


Where I Lived but He Won

by GayandAfraid



Category: Sonic the Hedgehog (Video Games), Sonic the Hedgehog - All Media Types
Genre: AU within an AU, Angst, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, LGBT characters, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Platonic Relationships, Shadow is tired and needs a break, Slow Build, Sonic has a lot of questions, injuries, it gets gay I promise, mental health revolving around loss, mentions of character deaths
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-19
Updated: 2018-11-19
Packaged: 2018-12-04 05:21:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 16
Words: 60,646
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11548338
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GayandAfraid/pseuds/GayandAfraid
Summary: Sonic and friends find a corrupt Chaos Emerald that takes Sonic to another dimension where things didn't happen quite how he remembered them. A world where the fight at ARK ended differently, Eggman rose to power, and Sonic himself is supposedly dead.





	1. The First Emerald

The puffs of smoke rose from the mound of metallic monsters a blue hedgehog stood on top of. Curses spewed from the hovering figure of the mad doctor as he fled the scene. The hedgehog chuckled and watched his enemy vanish, another attempt at grasping power over their lands thwarted.

“Sonic!” 

A shout from behind him caught his attention. He turned to see his young fox friend rush after him, skidding to a stop at the bottom of the robot scrap pile.

“What's up, Tails?”

“I've been trying to reach you. Is your communicator off again?” Tails asked with a frown.

Sonic chuckled. “I wouldn't turn it off on you, buddy.” He lifted his wrist to look at the watch device. When tapping on the screen didn't wake the device the hedgehog smiled nervously. “Oh. It must have died… Sorry, Tails. I'll charge it at home. What was it that you needed me for?”

Tails rolled his eyes, this not being the first time the blue hedgehog ran off before making sure the communicator was at full power. “It's okay. Thankfully it isn't an emergency.” He paused a moment and added a “yet.”

“An experiment go wrong?” Sonic asked.

“No. Knuckles called. He found a Chaos Emerald but said something is wrong with it. He has it with him on Angel Island where the Master Emerald can keep it stable but he wants us to look at it.”

Sonic scratched his head at this. “Huh. So the M.E. isn't able to totally fix it?”

Tails thoughtfully tilted his head. “If it can it isn't working as well as it usually does. Which is what has Knuckles worried. He also said it had a strange energy when he picked it up.”

“Yeesh. Okay, let's see what's going on with this Chaos Emerald.”

Tails nodded. “Yeah. The Tornado is all ready for flight, let's go!”

-

“Think Knuckles ever got a pizza place on Angel Island? I'm starving.” Sonic mused aloud, giving his stomach a pat.

“You should have brought something with you. I'm pretty sure getting someone to serve pizza on a floating island is really hard, with its one very broke resident and being miles off the ground. Plus Knuckles likes to live off the land.”

Sonic chuckled. “True. You think he eats bugs?” He asked.

“Well, he is an echidna.” Tails thought aloud. “There’s the island. Brace yourself for landing.”

Sonic nodded and held tighter to the wing of the plane where he balanced. “Ready when you are!”

 

Knuckles was waiting for them by their usual landing area, arms crossed as he watched them. “Tails, Sonic. Thanks for coming by.” He greeted, approaching the plane once the two got out.

“No probs, Knuckles.” Sonic grinned. “Tails filled me in on what's going on. I assume the Chaos Emerald is with the Master Emerald at the altar?”

“Yeah. It's starting to be affected by the purification ritual I performed, but it's gonna take a while to unto whatever was done to it…” Knuckles lead them safely through the thick forests around the island, avoiding traps he had set up to keep intruders out.

“So if it's working what’s the problem?” Sonic asked as they followed their friend.

“Tails, did you bring your Chaos Emerald?” Knuckles asked.

The fox nodded, holding out a yellow Chaos Emerald. “We found it a few weeks ago and I've been using it to see if maybe we can find a way to use the emeralds for clean energy on a wide scale.”

Knuckled stopped and looked at the emerald. He gave a simple “Yep.” and continued on the path.

“Yep?” Sonic raised a brow.

The altar was as well taken care of as ever, Knuckles prided himself on keeping it in its best condition to not dishonor his ancestors or the Master Emerald. Even from the bottom of the altar they could see the warm glow of the giant and powerful gem.

“Up here.” Knuckles invited them up the steps.

Once at the top Knuckles walked over to the Master Emerald and picked up the Chaos Emerald that sat near it. “I asked you to bring your emerald, Tails, because look…”

Tails and Sonic looked at the emerald the echidna held out and both stared with surprise.

“It looks just like mine!” Tails exclaimed and held his out, both the same yellow color.

Sonic frowned. “Could it be a fake like the one you made years ago to trick Eggman on the ARK?”

“No way, the Master Emerald wouldn't react to a fake.” Knuckles interrupted.

Tails let out a low hum as he looked at the two emeralds. “I can run some tests, using my emerald to compare their properties… I'll go get what I brought from the Tornado.”

Knuckles and Sonic watched as Tails flew off over the treetops towards the plane.

“So. You said it felt weird when you held it? How's it feel now?” Sonic asked. “Maybe you should put it down…”

“It isn't as strong a feeling with the Master Emerald near it. If I held it away from the altar then it would have an effect on me again.”

Sonic frowned, putting his hands on his hips. “What effects did it have?”

“It made me feel sick and weak. I had to put it down several times before getting it up here to rest. Knuckles answered. “And I don't react to Chaos Energy like say you and Shadow do. I can sense it well, but my body isn’t as sensitive to the power enough to use the power. So I can't imagine what it'd do to you.”

“Why do you think that?”

“I assume because of my ancestors protecting the Master Emerald and my own years of exposure to it had an effect. Like a resistance to it was built up.” Knuckles said, placing the Emerald he held back on the altar close to the M.E. “Meanwhile, Shadow seems like he was made purely with the intent of using the Chaos Energy. Seems you somehow can too. Maybe it's a hedgehog thing…” He mumbled the last part.

“I wonder if that's why my body reacts how it does when I have all seven.”

“Your super form? Yeah, it very well could be.”

“Heh, for a knucklehead you sure know your stuff about the emeralds.” Sonic winked with a smirk.

Knuckles shot a glare at Sonic. “This is my heritage. I couldn't call myself the protector of the Master Emerald if I didn't.” He growled.

“So you could say you're a specialist.”

“Yeah.” Knuckles looked back to the Chaos Emerald. “But I've never seen this sort of thing before… I'm glad Tails can help. All the knowledge passed down from my ancestors and I can't always offer an answer.”

“Don't be hard on yourself, Knux. You knew well enough that you need help with this. And that's gotta count for something.”

Knuckles looked at Sonic and seemed surprised for a second by his words but he smiled and nodded. “Yeah.”

“I got it!”

The two looked up to the sky as Tails flew back over, his hands full with a big box of tools and machinery.

“Some of the tests I gotta do will need us to take the emerald to the Tornado. But let's do what we can here to avoid having to prolong its time away from the Master Emerald.” Tails explained as he set up what he could carry.

-

They managed to use Tails’ tools to safely carry the emerald all the way to the Tornado. They watched the fox hook it up alongside his own emerald, the Tornado reading them with mechanical beeping.

“What’s it say?” Knuckles asked, peeking over Tails’ shoulder to look at the screen.

“It's weird. It has the same properties and wavelengths, like the fake emerald I designed did. But unlike the fake, this one seems to be an exact copy. Just as powerful as mine.” Tails looked at his two friends. “It's like they are even more identical than twins. Twins at least don't share exact fingerprints. These emeralds are exactly the same.”

Sonic scratched at his ear as he thought about what he just heard. “What about cloning? Could that be a cause?”

Tails shrugged. “I dunno. I'd have to run tests back at the lab to really check deeper. But even then, if it's a perfect clone then there is no telling if even the most complex of computers could tell them apart. We can take it now and-”

“We should wait for it to finish purifying under the Master Emerald.” Knuckles cut in with a frown. “I dunno anything about clones, but I do know that whatever contaminated this emerald isn't any good and we shouldn't mess around with it.”

Tails frowned. “But Knuckles, I can find out what happened to it if I take it to the lab.”

“No way. It isn't safe. The farther away from the Master Emerald it is the more dangerous it becomes.”

Sonic shrugged. “We won't touch it then. Keep it incased and handle it with tools. I'm sure we have oven mitts somewhere.”

Knuckles glared. “This isn't a joke, Sonic. You haven't felt what it's like touching that thing.”

Sonic frowned. “Fine. But if it gets purified then we will never know what caused it to get like this and if it could happen to the other emeralds. Tails’ emerald included.”

Knuckles went to argue this but stopped. “You… have a point…”

“Don't worry, Knuckles. I'll use extra precautions when handling the emerald you found.” Tails reassured. He took out a case from inside the Tornado. “I even brought the same kind of container I use for my emerald that hides its energy from being picked up from outside sources. So it should be fine.”

Sonic smirked. “See, Knux? Don't doubt our man, Tails. You called him for a reason, remember?”

Knuckles sighed and nodded. He looked at Tails. “Just be careful. Anything happens and we bring it right back here to be fully purified.”

“We?” Sonic asked.

“Yeah, I'm going with you. If things go wrong then I will be the one who handles the emerald. That a problem?”

“Nope. It'll be great having you around. Besides, you could use the time away from your rock.” Sonic smiled.

Tails got the emeralds inside their cases, making sure to mark which one was which, and got the Tornado ready for flight. “Okay, just no fighting while we are flying… or in my lab. I don't wanna have to clean up the mess you two make.”

“Deal!”

“Sure.”

-

Leaving the island started smoothly, Knuckles and Sonic both on the wings of the Tornado as Tails flew them back towards the land below.

“So you gotta try this new place in town, their chili dogs are out of this world.” Sonic yelled over to Knuckles.

“I suppose I could give one a try. You'd have to cover though. I'm not exactly paid for what I do.” Knuckles answered, more focused on his hold on the plane then his conversation with Sonic.

“We don't either, but saving the world a few times has its perks.”

“How humble of you.”

Tails saw his scanners pick up on another aircraft approaching them and readied himself. “Sonic, we have company.”

The hedgehog looked back and frown the clouds he saw one of Eggman’s many airships following. “Looks like the doctor recovered from our last rumble.”

Knuckles growled lowly. “We can't let him get the Chaos Emeralds.” He said, looking at Sonic.

“No worries. We can handle him.”

“Hold on tight!” Tails yelled before swiftly moving just as the airship started to fire at them.

Sonic and Knuckles winced as they clung to the plane, bullets whirling past them.

“Can you shake him?” Sonic asked.

“I can try to.”

They jolted to the right, dodging a blast from Eggman’s ship.

“How did he find us anyway? Were you followed?!” Knuckles yelled.

“Dunno, we'll figure it out once we're outta here.” Sonic said, looking back at Eggman's ship. “Tails, we might have to take him out.”

“I was just thinking that.” Tails pulled back and maneuvered the Tornado around to fly at the ship all the while trying to avoid getting hit.

They returned fire, aiming to take out the engines of the aircraft that kept it in the air. Tails used their smaller size to their advantage to avoid danger and get into blind spots to shoot back. Eggman's ship soon lost altitude as it went down.

“Nice flying, Tails!” Sonic grinned.

Tails smiled as he flew away from the crashing aircraft. In his efforts to not get knocked down by the bigger plane he noticed the homing missile a second late.

Knuckles’ side was hit and the echidna barely held on. Tails struggled as he started to lose control of the Tornado.

“Ah! Sonic! The emeralds!” Tails yelled when he noticed both had been knocked out of the plane by the blast.

Knuckles saw the one and pushed himself from the plane, grabbing it and gliding himself back over. “I got one. Sonic, the other is on your side!” He said, sensing them as he clung to the broken wing.

Sonic nodded and leapt for it. He grabbed the case with one hand and the emerald slid out through the broken lid. “Crap!” He twisted himself and with his other hand he grabbed the emerald.

Knuckles pulled Tails from the crashing plane and they bailed, Tails flying them after Sonic working his namesake as hard as he could.

“Sonic!” His friends cried out, neither able to reach him as he fell.

The hedgehog looked at the emerald in his hand, suddenly feeling exhausted and dizzy as the ocean below drew closer. Without time to think he clutched it tightly and yelled, “Chaos Control!”

Tails and Knuckles watched as Sonic vanished, the two descending slowly as they held to each other.

“Think he is okay?” Tails asked, his flight pace slowing as he aimed them towards the shore.

“He can teleport himself to safety, right? He should be.” Knuckles answered. He looked at the incased emerald he held and his eyes widened. “Tails… We have your emerald.”

Tails looked at where Sonic once was as panic pulsed through his body like a chill. “Who knows how Chaos Control would work with that emerald…”

“We'll find him, Tails. You and I gotta figure out how to land first. I doubt you can keep us flying long.”

“No… We'll have to free fall a bit and I can use my parachute.”

Knuckles nodded and held Tails’ hand tightly. “We got this.”

The fox nodded and rested his tails once he was sure they were lined up with the land below and not the ocean.

Knuckles held to Tails as they fell, watching as the shore below came clearer into view before Tails opened the parachute.

“This is my fault. I should have seen that missile.” Tails frowned.

“What happened, happened. No point in putting blame on anyone. Sonic can take care of himself. I just hope he's smart enough to be careful with that emerald.”

Tails looked around and saw the Tornado crash down on land. “We should see if anything survived the crash. If I can get the readings I got from that emerald we might be able to track Sonic. If he's even anywhere close to us that is…”

-

Sonic felt like his body was being snapped and contorted in ways it wasn't meant to, his head spun and he clung to the emerald as best as he could. It ended as abruptly as it had started and he found himself facedown in the dirt.

He let out a groan, unable to move. Knuckles’ comment on how he had to put the emerald down and rest came to mind and he let go to just lay there next to the gem.

After a few minutes he felt sensation in his body again and pushed himself up on his hands and knees. “That was the roughest Chaos Control I've ever seen.” He mumbled and looked around.

It seemed he was spat out in a wasteland of sorts, for miles nothing but flat grounds with hardly any grass or trees. “Great.” His ears twitched as he tried to pick up on any sound only to hear nothing, not even a breeze.

“Well, this is a fine situation to be in.” He looked at the watch on his wrist and frowned. “I didn't get the chance to charge this thing… Now I've really done it.”

He stood up eventually and kicked at the ground. He made an ‘x’ with the tip of his shoe before deciding a direction to start walking. He thankfully still had the broken case so he placed it next to the Chaos Emerald, open side facing the gem.

“Knuckles was right about you being bad news… better be more careful.” He nudged the emerald into the case, just his fingertip nudging it in gave him the chills.

He picked up the case and started his search for any sort of life and clue to where to go from here.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm very nervous about posting this being that it's Sonic and I am rusty in my writing. But I am a returning fan of the series and trying to get over my embarrassment of my love for it.
> 
> I haven't played the games since Shadow the Hedgehog and haven't read much of the comics so my lore might be slightly different. But it's an AU so hopefully that's okay.
> 
> I hope to not write anyone too OOC and look forward to writing more.


	2. Found and Confused

Scary. He hated admitting when he felt overwhelmed, but this place took a toll on his mental state as he ran, every so often stopping to leave a mark in the dirt in hopes of not getting lost.

It was all in vain though. He was utterly lost, each X getting mixed up for another one leading him in circles, and he was exhausted. The sun was getting higher in the sky and reaching a peak in the heat of the day. He regretted not eating before visiting Knuckles. He was thirsty. And even more surprising to him, he was tired.

His limbs trembled if he slowed enough to notice, his stomach and head hurt. He couldn't help but wonder if this would be it. This would be how he met his end. Not fighting to save the world he loved, not a ripe old age surrounded by friends. No. He would die lost, alone, and terrified.

He was ready to give up. To lay down in the dirt and let himself waste away into an eternal slumber. But a shape broke through the horizon, growing in size as he got closer. He felt his heart flutter and his eyes sting. Finally. Worst case scenario he found somewhere he could get some shade. Best case he could find help.

Sonic ran as fast as he could towards it, blessing any god he could think of. So when he had to stop he skid across the ground and took a tumble due to his weak footing and speed.

He looked up towards the mass, now that he was closer he could see it was a half built base. The side had the start of the Doctor’s emblem, his portrait. But it felt off, the sides of the walls were eroded and the paint faded. And as he got up and walked closer he saw a large hole in several of the walls.

“That doesn't look like something that'd be in the blueprints.” He remarked and approached.

Peeking inside he saw the halls were dark and dusty, without a sound or movement.

“Abandoned?” He wondered aloud, stepping inside.

The shade inside the building was well welcomed by the hedgehog as he walked through the base. He found traces of battle, bullet holes in the walls and ceiling, scorch marks along the floors.

He turned a corner and flinched when he came face to face with a large robot. Sonic jumped back and clenched his fists, waiting a few seconds before approaching the unmoving metal being.

He found several holes in its chest that went straight through. The hedgehog let himself sigh. “You're not moving anytime soon.”

“Neither are you.”

Sonic felt his spines striffen at the sudden voice but a swift pressure to the back of his head brought darkness and sleep.

-

The first thing he noticed was the headache.

Sonic winced and let out a groan, trying to lift an arm to hold his head but his arms were bond to his sides. 

“What the heck?” He mumbled and opened his eyes to find himself tied up and laying on the floor. He tried to at least sit up but he felt too weak.

Then, while thinking about how tired he was, he remembered the contaminated Chaos Emerald. He looked around frantically, not seeing it. But from what he could tell he was still in the base, he was now in an in closed room.

“Hey! Is anyone there?” He called out, glaring as he struggled against his binds.

A door opened and a figure in a cloak entered the room, standing in the doorway for a moment.

Sonic recognized the emerald in their hand and yelled. “Let me go! Give me back my emerald!”

“Using his voice isn't going to work on me.” The cold voice replied, walking over cautiously. “Sneaking about here, with a Chaos Emerald no less. What are you planning? Give me a reason why I shouldn't make sure you meet the same fate as your robot friends in this dump.”

Sonic tried to swallow but at this point he was so dehydrated it wasn't easy. “I’m not planning anything except a way home. I have no idea where I am, that Emerald sent me through a weird Chaos Control and now I'm here in the middle of nowhere.”

The person paused and stared at Sonic. “You expect me to believe you can use Chaos Control?”

“Don't believe me? I can show you.” Sonic smirked, though his usual confidence didn't quite make him feel any better.

“... How did you get this emerald?”

Sonic didn't want to say too much but the more the stranger talked the more he felt he knew them and opened up to them. “My friend found it at his place. We don't know how it got there or even what it is. My other friend has the same exact Chaos Emerald, same color and everything. So we were gonna run tests in his lab-”

“Your friend has the same Chaos Emerald? How is that possible?”

“Was getting to that. But you know, these ropes are a bit tight and my throat is so dry. Talking hurts.” Sonic whined as forcefully as he could, closing his eyes with exaggerated distress. He opened an eye to look at the person.

They let out an annoyed sigh, went over to a desk and grabbed a flask, returning to Sonic.

Sonic smirked up at them as they knelt down and sat him up. “Thanks, pal.”

“I am not your pal. Try anything and I will kill you.” They opened the flask and held it to Sonic’s lips.

Sonic sipped at the water, it was warm but the fluid felt so refreshing on his tongue and throat he could cry.

He looked up when the cloaked figure withdrew their hand and capped the flask. That was when Sonic saw up their hood. His eyes widened and he felt a wave of relief mixed with confusion wash over his mind.

“Shadow?!”

The figure glared at him, grabbing the rope and shoving Sonic roughly into the wall.

“Don't you dare say my name with his voice, impostor!” He hissed.

Sonic winced and returned the other hedgehog’s stare. “Shadow. It's really me.” Sonic said, pleading with him.

The Chaos Emerald was held close to Sonic’s face, the blue hedgehog grateful it was still in its case. “You realize I'm no longer useless now that I have this. It would be a snap of the finger to end your pitiful life. Now quit playing games and answer me. Are you now making copies of the emeralds? What do you plan to do with them?”

“I don't know anything about the emerald or how there is two of them. Tails and Knuckles were working on that when we were attacked by Eggman. I fell and used Chaos Control with that emerald and ended up here. That's all I know, I swear. I wouldn't lie to you. You gotta believe me, Shadow.”

The dark hedgehog stood up, dropping Sonic on the ground. “I've had enough of your lies. I'm going to peel that disguise from your face and force the answers out of you myself!” He reached into the case and took out the emerald, grasping it tightly as it started to glow in his hand.

“Wait! Shadow don't touch it!”

Shadow winced, suddenly dropped the emerald and collapsed to his knee, breathing heavily. “What... what have you done to it?!”

Sonic shook his head. “I forgot to tell you something's wrong with it. You alright?”

“You brought it here to me on purpose!” Shadow hissed.

“I didn't! Knuckles was purifying it with the Master Emerald-”

Shadow’s bitter laugh cut Sonic off. “The Master Emerald? The Master Emerald hasn't been accessible for years. Not even to its guardian. If you are going to lie you should at least get your facts right.”

“What? I was just there though. It's on Angel Island. We were just leaving it to study the emerald at the lab!”

Shadow stared at Sonic, frowning as he stood up. Sonic’s expression and tone changing drastically at the reveal of the status of the Master Emerald surprised him.

“Where’s Knuckles? You said its guardian can't get to it either? What's going on?” Sonic asked, glaring at Shadow.

The dark hedgehog stared in silence, frowning as he watched Sonic go from confused to out right panicked and frustrated.

“Shadow! Tell me what happened? Tell me he’s okay!” Sonic realized something as he thought more about this. “Am I in the future? Did something happen to them after I used Chaos Control?”

“You think faking fear for your friends will convince me? You're quite the actor but I'm no fool.”

Sonic growled lowly, leaning back against the wall. He used his legs to push himself to his feet, struggling as they shook under his weight. “I don't care if you believe me or not right now. Tell me what happened to my friends! Where are they now?”

Shadow frowned and went to where the emerald laid on the floor and quickly scooped it up into the case. “You really don't know what's going on, do you?”

Sonic shook his head. “I have no clue…”

The dark hedgehog sighed and pulled a knife from under his cloak. He stood staring at it, weighing his options.

Sonic tensed as Shadow came close with it. The knife cut the rope and Sonic let out a breath he held. “About time.” He said, rubbing his arms. “You gonna tell me what happened? If Tails is okay… he should be able to backup my story and then we can get back to work on the Chaos Emerald. Then deal with this Master Emerald problem.”

“The Master Emerald is the least of our troubles right now, hedgehog. Come with me.” Shadow left the room after tucking away his knife and flask under his cloak.

Sonic didn't like the sound of that, but Shadow seemed to be starting to believe him so he had to trust him. He sure couldn't stay there or out run Shadow. Not in the state he was in.

Shadow lead Sonic through the base to an opening where a wheeless bike of sorts sat, hidden from the sun. “Here.” He took off his cloak, handing it to Sonic. “Wear it. It'll protect you from the sun.”

Sonic took the cloak and smiled as he put it on, covering his head with the hood. “Thanks, Shadow.”

Without the cloak on and the sun peeking in through the hole, Sonic could see Shadow clearer than in the dark room. He wore a belt where he had the knife and flask he used previously, along with a gun which made Sonic curious as to why the ultimate life form needed it but glad he didn't use it.  
He also had goggles around his neck and bandages going up his arms and fingers from under black fingerless gloves.

The black hedgehog got on the bike, turned it on and placed the Chaos Emerald inside a compartment. As the bike came to life it hovered off the ground. “Get on.” Shadow said, pulled the goggles up over his eyes.

Sonic stared at the bike then at Shadow. “Why are you suddenly helping me? Believe me now?”

Shadow glared at him and placed a hand over where the gun sat on his belt. “Make no mistake, I have every intention of shooting you down should you make one step out of line.”

Sonic stood with hands on his hips, tilting his head. “So what made you trust me enough to untie me then?”

Shadow was quiet a moment, looking away from Sonic and back to the bike’s handles. “Should I decide I won't kill you after all then we will discuss this later. Now shut up and get on.”

“Fair enough.” Sonic climbed up onto the bike, pausing and looking at Shadow a moment before he hesitantly held to his waist.

Shadow seemed to try and hide how tense the touch made him but he accelerated the bike out of the base without a word.

The bike was much faster than Sonic expected and he was far too dizzy and tired to figure out how to balance himself so he further wrapped his arms around Shadow and closed his eyes as he hid his face in Shadow’s quills from the dirt and wind that was blown past them.

Shadow let out a sharp breath and drove faster, the sooner they got there the better. That is, unless the location moved since he last spoke with them.

-

Sonic wasn't sure how long they drove before they reached the end of the wasteland.

“Keep your head down and hold tight.” Shadow suddenly said.

Sonic looked past Shadow’s head and saw they were approaching what seemed to be a city, surely that meant people, food, water, and rest. Sonic grew relieved and wondered why Shadow seemed so much more on edge.

They followed a road into the city and as they passed a guard post Shadow drew his gun with a hand and shot into it once as they passed.

Sonic’s eyes widened and he looked inside and saw a robot twitch and spark where it fell limply over its post. “You killed it!”

“Every second undetected matters. It won't take them long to notice the stall in the entrance post.” Shadow replied coldly.

“Undetected? Are we trying to stay hidden?”

“We will discuss this later. Let me handle this first.”

Sonic looked back, seeing other vehicles stop at the post to get clearance into the city.

Shadow turned to another street, swerving around traffic.

It didn't take long for an alarm to sound, sirens wailing from police stationed around the city. The cop cars, like Shadow’s bike, hadn't wheels but hovered when started up. They sped through traffic searching for the hostile who took out the city guard.

Sonic saw one turn onto their road and a red light shone from the headlights, scanning them.

“OUTLAW DETECTED. PRIORITY LEVEL RED. KILL ON SIGHT.”

Sonic’s eyes widened and he looked at Shadow as they sped away from the police car that started to fire at them from weapons built into the vehicle. “They are robots and you're an outlaw?!”

“We are being shot at and you're worried about my status?!” Shadow yelled back at him and swerved out of the way of the bullets.

More police robots joined in the chase now that they were located, Shadow maneuvering them around the other vehicles on the streets to get anything between them.

Sonic held tightly to Shadow. “How are we supposed to do anything here if everyone wants you dead?”

“The city isn't our destination.” Shadow sped towards another guard post. There was a few police robots blocking it and the dark hedgehog grumbled with annoyance. He lifted a hand and Sonic recognized the glow in his hand. Light shot out as he flicked his hand towards the robots, the Chaos Spears impaled the robots and allowed them to get past them and out of the city.

Sonic looked back, seeing the police robots slowly give up their chase once they were past the borders of the city. “Geez. What did you do to tick them off?” Sonic asked and his eyes caught the markings on the signs of the city that grew harder to see as they got farther from it. He brushed off what he saw as him not seeing it right.

Shadow was breathing heavily again, driving with one hand for a moment as the hand he used to fire his Chaos Spear lingered close to his chest.

Sonic noticed this and looked over Shadow’s shoulder, seeing the bandaging burnt away and bloody. “Oh crap, you alright?”

“Peachy.” Shadow carefully took hold of the handles with both hands, his grip less tight on his injured hand.

“You're hurt. But we weren't hit, were we?”

“It was the Chaos Spear.”

Sonic stared at Shadow, far more confused than before the answer. “... I assume this we will also discuss later?”

“You're catching on.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I drew Shadow's design for those interested. I'm not the greatest artist but it's the basic idea.
> 
> https://aquatic-mines.tumblr.com/post/163262841284/shadows-design-for-a-fic-im-writing-check-it


	3. Behind the Waterfall

Though they were out of the wastelands, the environment was still quite dry and air thick. There was hardly any plant life and many places had cut down or out right dead trees.

“Where are we?” Sonic asked after he and Shadow had traveled a while in silence.

“This used to be the Mystic Ruins.” Shadow answered.

Sonic’s eyes widened and he looked around. “But all the trees. And this heat. What time of year is it right now anyway? Even in summer it was never this hot here.”

“I believe it's early Autumn.” Shadow answered.

“You believe? You aren't sure what time of year it is?!”

Shadow glared. “The passing of time doesn't exactly affect me so I haven't much need to pay attention to it.”

Sonic squinted his eyes. “I don't buy that. Surely you notice the passing of day and night.”

Shadow was silent at that, frowning to himself.

“How don't you notice the sun and moon?!” Sonic asked.

“My days have been blurring together lately.” Shadow said in a mumble Sonic almost didn't catch over the hum of the bike.

Sonic felt a tinge of guilt for pushing the matter after hearing how Shadow answered. He could tell something was off, but he wasn't sure what. So he let it go.

They drove on in silence, passing the area that was once full of plant life and stopped at the edge leading down into a canyon. Below there were towers in several places attached to dams in the river running through the canyon.

“Geez. What did I miss?”

“Hold on.” Shadow, without longer than a second for Sonic to register what was about to happen, sped over the side of the steep cliff.

Sonic gripped Shadow’s torso tightly and let out a shout as they fell.

Shadow jerked the front of the bike up and stepped on the gas, the bike hovering against the ground before they crashed. They made it to one of the ledges like this and Shadow sped along it.

They got behind a waterfall when Shadow slowed to a stop. 

“So where are we?” Sonic asked as he got off the bike.

“Hopefully where we need to be. Unless they moved again.” Shadow said as he got out the encased Chaos Emerald and off his vehicle.

“‘They’?”

Shadow walked over to the rock wall and picked a small one out, under it was a keypad with odd lettering Sonic had never seen before. Shadow pressed a pattern of keys and leaned in close. A green light scanned over his right eye and there was a beep. He stepped back and stared at the wall.

Sonic watched as a rock sunk in and slid to a side, showing an entryway with a metal door. He followed Shadow as the dark hedgehog wheeled his bike inside and the rock moved back into place behind them.

A light above the door turned on and an automated voice asked for a vocal password.

“Servers of Chaos.”

There was a pause before Shadow’s words were verified as correct and the door unlocked.

Shadow went to grab the handle when it was swung open, nearly hitting Shadow in the process.

“Shadow! You're alive!”

Sonic felt a weight slightly lift off his heart as he saw the red echidna. He had his spikes pulled back with an elastic band and wrappings around the two that hung at the sides of his face. Black KT tape was around his knuckles, elbows, and knees. He took off the hood of his cloak as he greeted his friend. “Knuckles?! Is that you? Looking good, buddy.” Sonic grinned with a wink.

Knuckles turned and the shock on his face only showed for a split second before Sonic narrowly dodged a fist that flew at him. It hit the wall next to Sonic’s head, the wall cracking under the force and several parts crumbled to the ground. A large hole was left behind by the spiked fist.

Sonic stared into the echidna’s enraged eyes, for the first time in a long time alarmed by his strength and temper. “Heh, your swings got faster.” Sonic said, trying to seem unphased.

“Not just faster. You'll see just how much stronger I am too cuz I won't miss a second time, you fake!” Knuckles growled and moved to take another swing.

“Knuckles stop.” Shadow said with a sharp tone, standing between the two.

The echidna glared at him. “Why did you bring that thing right to my base?!”

“Last time it was an imposter, you were one of the the only ones who didn't hesitate to take it out. Besides, I have a suspicion this one is genuine.” Shadow answered.

Sonic watched Knuckles ease out of a fighting stance, now his glare on the blue hedgehog. He turned his attention to Shadow whose body relaxed, as much as someone like Shadow could, and saw there was a glow that went away at his already wounded hand.

“Why do you think that?” Knuckles asked, turning back to the dark hedgehog. “We both know Sonic’s gone. You of all people, Shadow, know.” There was a muted pain to Knuckles’ words.

“I know. I don't think this is the same Sonic. I need Tails to check him over though. But I figured it would be safer to bring him here first rather than the lab.”

Knuckles frowned. “I guess so. It wouldn't be a huge loss if they found this base. We can relocate in with Tails worse came to worse.” He looked at Sonic again. “You two can come in. But one wrong move-”

“And you'll end me.” Sonic finished with a shrug and an eye roll. “Shads gave me the rundown, so no worry knucklehead.” He grinned.

“Don't call me that.” Both Shadow and Knuckles said in unison.

Knuckles led them inside, the hall came to a three way fork. The echidna took them down the rightmost one until they came to what looked like a training room. When they got inside, Knuckles hit a button behind a dummy which closed the entrance. “You better get to talking, Shadow. You've been gone for how long? And now you show up with someone you claim to be Sonic?”

Shadow frowned, this room having far more space for Knuckles to really let loose should they come to blows. And even though Sonic was just as cocky as ever, he was in no state to fight. His dodge earlier was simply luck and Knuckles holding back to avoiding bringing down the whole mountainside.

“Hey, Knuckles, you got water and food? Not to be a pain and all, but we've been traveling a while and I haven't had anything since yesterday… Which I guess was a long time ago now…” Sonic said, scratching his chin as he thought about time travel.

Knuckles glared. “Not until we sort this out. And that's only if I like your story.”

Shadow sighed. “Fine.” He spoke to Knuckles first. “I found him in the Wastelands, wondering the Doctor’s old base there. I captured him and questioned him, but he seemed to have a different story than what we know.”

“What was it?”

Sonic saw the two stare at him and he repeated the events that lead to him finding himself in the Wastelands.

Knuckles glared. “A contaminated Chaos Emerald? I would have remembered this happening. You're making this up.”

Shadow held out the case with the emerald inside it. “You should avoiding touching it directly.” He warned.

Knuckles took it and removed it from the case anyway. He put it back right away before it could get to him. “There are traces of the Master Emerald on it. But that’s impossible. No one can get to the Master Emerald, I made sure of it.”

“You were trying to purify it. And what's up with the whole no one able to get to Angel Island anymore thing?” Sonic asked.

Knuckles handed the Chaos Emerald case back to Shadow. “You didn't see it on your way here from the Wastelands? I assume you went through the city on your way here since you got here in a day. You can't miss it there.”

“Miss what?” Sonic asked.

“Eggman’s Empire. The robots, the buildings, the destruction of nature, all Eggman’s doing when he took to power about five years ago.” Shadow answered.

Knuckles crossed his arms. “I used the Master Emerald’s power to seal the whole Island to keep it safe. Now no one can get to it while we figure out how to fix this mess.”

“Woah, what? Eggman Empire?” Sonic recalled the signs he saw while fleeing the city, the ones he hoped against all odds that he miss read. “Oh no… But we always beat him. How did he manage to win and get this much power?!... Five years. Have I been gone that long?”

“Not gone, more like not even here.” Confused expressions turned to Shadow as he said this. “Sonic. You said you used Chaos Control to save yourself from a fall. That Tails and Knuckles saw it happen. But Knuckles doesn't recall this event happening at all. And Knuckles sensing the Master Emerald on the Chaos Emerald you came with proves your side of the story mostly. The only explanation is you aren't our Sonic.”

Knuckles’ eyes went wide with understanding. “You're talking about what Tails has been trying to do right? Reaching other dimensions for help?”

Shadow nodded.

Sonic rubbed his tired eyelids. “So I didn't travel in time but rather to another version of my world?”

“When I touched the emerald earlier it felt off. Like it had a hint of foreign energy not of this world but that matched it.” Shadow said.

Sonic snapped his fingers with a grin. “That'd explain the two matching Chaos Emeralds! One from your world and one from mine!”

Knuckles sighed lightly and reached behind the dummy, opening the entrance.

Sonic frowned. “So who knows if my Tails and Knuckles are alright.” He thought aloud.

Knuckles approached him. “If you're really Sonic, or another Sonic, then you can help us. You already brought us a Chaos Emerald. There is a chance we can take back our world from Eggman!”

Sonic smirked. “Of course I'm gonna help. I can't go home before cleaning up this mess.”

Knuckles smiled at this, it was gentle and kind. “Heh, it's good to have you back, Sonic.”

“Don't get too emotional over this, echidna. He is just a temporary replacement until we defeat Doctor Eggman, then he goes back to his world.” Shadow said coldly. “Now, about how about supplying him with water and food? I also assume he will need some rest so we may as well stay the night.”

Knuckles frowned at Shadow but didn't argue. “Yeah. I'll go fix something up for you. You know your way around so you can show him the place.”

Sonic nodded and watched Knuckles leave before turning to Shadow. “Why'd you go and say it like that?! We just got him to feel better.”

“I didn't bring you here to his friends to heal the hole he left. I brought you here for business.”

Sonic was silent for a moment, not wanting to speak out of anger, before he replied. “So you said I'm a temporary replacement. What happened to the Sonic here?”

“He's gone, that's all you need to know.”

“Did he die?”

Shadow turned away at this, heading for the entrance of the room. “There isn't time to talk about this with you.”

Sonic grabbed his hand. “Wait! You said you'd answer my questions!”

Shadow hissed in pain and yanked his hand from Sonic’s. At first Sonic thought Shadow was that repulsed by him touching his hand, but then he remembered the injuries he sustained getting them out of the city.

“Your hand… You said the Chaos Spear was how you got hurt…”

Shadow looked away, letting his hand hang at his side. “Yes.”

“You were gonna use it back there weren't you?”

Shadow looked back at Sonic. “What?”

“When Knuckles was attacking me and you got between us. You were charging up Your Chaos Spear.” He smiled with a hand on his hip. “I've seen that move enough to know what it looks like right before you use it.”

Shadow stared at the blue hedgehog and sighed. “Yes. I couldn't risk Knuckles killing our last hope at beating the Doctor before I explained to him my hypothesis.”

“Going toe to toe with Knuckles, that's a pretty risky gamble.”

Shadow chuckled at that. “Yeah. I'm lucky Knuckles didn't fight us both in the entrance and in here. We would have been defeated if not out right killed.”

Sonic raised a brow. “The Ultimate Lifeform being able to get taken down by Knuckles? I know you two can be pretty evenly matched but you sound like you doubt even that.”

Shadow frowned and looked at his hand, flexing it. “I'm not as strong as I used to be. My powers injure me to use these days, I'd take myself out before I could beat someone like Knuckles.”

“But you still tried to protect me.”

Shadow looked back at Sonic, that self assured smirk on the blue hedgehog’s face. Shadow scowled at him. “Don't read too much into this. I was just protecting you because we need you.” He headed to the middle room of the three the base had with a scoff.

Sonic laughed and followed him into what seemed to be the living quarters of the base. There were beds along one side, a dining area, and a kitchen.

Knuckles looked up from the kitchen area as the two entered. “Just in time. I just finished the soup. Sorry I can't offer much else. I mostly have leftovers right now until I go to headquarters.”

“Headquarters?” Sonic asked as he took a seat at a table.

“It's the main base of the resistance. They have some of the only gardens and other natural resources.” Shadow explained.

“It's on hidden sacred land, so it is untouched by Eggman’s pollution and this negative Chaos Energy.” Knuckles brought Sonic a bowl of the soup and water.

“Negative Chaos Energy, huh? Is that what I feel outside? Thought it was just global warming.” Sonic took the spoon Knuckles offered and sipped some broth.

Shadow sat down across the table from Sonic and placed the emerald on the table.

Knuckles joined them and explained, “Eggman has, or now had, all seven Chaos Emeralds. He has been using the positive energy to power his weapons and bases, so the negative leaks out into the air. It had sped up global warming greatly and has a bad effect on those sensitive to it.”

Sonic looked at Shadow. “Like you. Is that why your powers hurt you?”

Shadow nodded. “I need a balance of both the positive and negative energies. Sure, I can make use of just one or the other but my body wasn't made to be able to safely store and use that energy. So I drain myself fast and I'm injured when I forcefully use my powers.”

Knuckles finally noticed Shadow’s hand and frowned. “I see you had to do so recently.”

“I had been able to avoid going near places that are guarded, and when I can't I hid my identity behind a hood. But as you can see Sonic needed it more than I did so our trip to the city got us some unwanted attention.”

Sonic frowned, tugging at the cloak around his neck. “Hey, you didn't have to give it to me if you being seen was gonna get us into that.”

Shadow shot Sonic a glare. “You realize what your face means to the Eggman Empire? If you thought what happened in the city when they saw me was bad, you wouldn't be able to handle what would happen if they saw you.”

Knuckles left to a closet and brought over a first aid kit, handing it to Shadow. “Want some help?”

“No. I've been patching myself up just fine.” Shadow replied and took the kit to the bathroom.

Sonic looked up at Knuckles. “You said he's been gone awhile. What's up with that?”

Knuckles rubbed the back of his neck. “I dunno, it isn't my story to tell. But stuff went down about two years ago and I guess he didn't take it too well and went off on his own…”

“Didn't you lose your Sonic five years ago? That's how Eggman came to power right?”

“...” Knuckles frowned and took a moment to take a deep breath as he sat where Shadow was moments before. “Yeah. Sonic was killed five years ago. But Shadow didn't leave after that. It took one more push for him to go.”

“What happened?”

“Like I said, it isn't my place to talk about it.”

Sonic nodded and ate more of his soup. “Hey, Knuckles?”

“Yeah?”

“You sealed the Master Emerald up. But you're here and not on Angel Island. That must have been a hard choice to make.” Sonic watched as Knuckles looked at the Chaos Emerald in the middle of the table.

“Yeah… it was the hardest choice I ever had to make. But the Master Emerald is safe now and I have something else to keep safe. I won't lose anymore of the ones I care about.” Knuckles said with resolve.

Sonic stared at him a moment, he was more mature than the Knuckles back in his world. Perhaps older even. He couldn't tell if perhaps time here was different or if this war aged the echidna. Either way it made him worry how this affected someone else. “How’s Tails handling all this?”

Knuckles leaned back in his chair and chuckled as he reclined his arms behind his head and crossed his legs. “You sure have a lot of questions.”

Sonic blinked and smirked. “Well yeah. I'm kinda new here after all.”

“True. It's so hard to remember you aren't him…” Knuckles said, the last part trailing off as he realized what he was saying and felt foolish. He cleared his throat and sat upright. “Tails is fine. Though there is something you should know…”

Sonic braced himself, a knot forming in his chest. “What happened?” He asked sternly.

Knuckles stared at Sonic’s sudden serious expression before laughing. “Oh, it isn't bad at all. But our Tails isn't a ‘he’.”

Sonic paused a moment before letting out a long breath. “Is that all? Alright! So Tails is a girl?”

“Yep. She came out shortly before Sonic passed away actually.”

Sonic tensed again. “How did he react to it?”

Knuckles smiled. “How Sonic reacts to most things like this. He said for her to do what makes her happy and he'll be behind her all the way. I’m actually pretty sure he never slipped up with her even once.”

Sonic sighed and smiled. “Thank Chaos. I was worried about what kinda guy your Sonic was for a sec there. Glad he looked out for Tails.”

“Glad you seem to be just like him or I'd have to beat the sense into you before sending you off to Tails.” Knuckles said, cracking his namesake.

Sonic chuckled, relieved to hear his best friends were alive and as well as they could be in wartime. “I can't wait to see her. We gonna go there tomorrow?”

“Well, you and Shadow will. I gotta keep to my post here watching over the dams and the happenings of the Mystic Ruins until my partner returns and can take over. But you and Shadow will go see her.” He stood up as he realized something. “I should give her a call and give her the update of what's going on. You can take one of the beds and get some rest.”

Sonic smiled. “Thanks for giving me a chance, Knuckles.”

Knuckles smiled. “Thank Shadow for that. Rest well, Sonic.” He waved and left the area.

Sonic finished off his food and water, feeling much better but longed for sleep. He dropped his dish off in the kitchen and moved to find a bed when Shadow came out. “Hey, Shadow. Wanna get some sleep before we go see Tails?”

“I need to speak with Knuckles first. You get some rest.”

Sonic watched Shadow leave and he got himself into a bed. As he took off his shoes and pulled the blankets over himself he wondered how his Tails and Knuckles were doing, if they survived the plane crash. He laid his head down and struggled to get some sleep.

-

Knuckles ended the call with Tails with a sigh, a hand over his mouth as he clutched the edge of the desk the communicator sat on.

“She take the news that bad?”

Knuckles turned and saw Shadow in the doorway of the only room Sonic hadn't been in. Machines and screens filled the room, the glow illuminating the room. “No, she actually handled it better than I expected.”

“Good. We can't afford for her to get emotional right now.”

Knuckles glared at the dark hedgehog. “He was her best friend, you aren't worried at all how this actually makes her feel seeing him again like this?”

Shadow leaned against the doorframe and crossed his arms. “No. Because this Sonic isn't him. Her best friend is gone and she knows that.”

Knuckles approached Shadow, standing close enough for him to see the purple of his eyes. “Are we still talking about Tails or is this the bull crap you gotta tell yourself to avoid getting too close to this? You can't expect me to believe you are the slightest bit shaken by him.”

Shadow glared at the echidna. “This is a means to an end. Are you suggesting I may be incapable of this mission due to what you are falsely reading to be my emotional state.”

“Oh, because you're clearly doing great. When was the last time you came around then? When did you last see her?”

“Tails?”

“No you idiot!” Knuckles yelled. “You know exactly who I'm talking about. She was your partner and one accident happened, now you won't even give her the time of day. It's been two years and she doesn't even know if you're alive or if you're out there face down somewhere from some attack you couldn't handle or your own self loathing-”

“Well, I'm sure you can reassure her that I'm fine now.” Shadow snapped back, standing upright now.

“If you call severe isolation and impulsive risk taking to be fine. What were you thinking taking him through the city of all places?”

Shadow scoffed. “It was the fastest route. We don't have time to-”

“To what?! Shadow, we already lost. We need to take our time now and be careful if we are gonna win this.”

“This coming from you? The very definition of impulsive and reckless? I don't need your lecturing or concern, echidna. Waste your time elsewhere.”

The two stared at each other in tense silence before Knuckles broke away first. “Whatever. Do what you want. But if your damaged state gets Sonic or Tails hurt then you better make sure I don't see you again. Cuz I'll ripe you to shreds.”

Shadow clenched his fists but decided not to respond to the threat vocally. He nodded and stood silently as he watched Knuckles look over the screens which had surveillance over the Mystic Ruins.

Knuckles used checking over the area for threats as an excuse for taking a breather before his anger towards the dark hedgehog came to blows. Once he cooled off enough he turned his head enough to see Shadow over his shoulder. “I assume you're still here for a reason.”

“The Chaos Emerald.”

“Right…”

Shadow crossed his arms again. “We need to utilize its power to be able to have a chance against the Doctor. But in its current state it's unusable.”

“Well, we can't use the Master Emerald to purify it.” Knuckles said, fully facing Shadow and leaning back against the desk.

“Is there nothing else the Guardian of the Emeralds can do with it?”

Knuckles tensed at the tone Shadow used, but getting back into a heated argument now would only end badly. “Not without the Master Emerald. And I will not risk it or my island for just one of the Chaos Emeralds. The moment I lower the barrier the emerald made that's it, there is no getting it back up. We both know Eggman has his eyes on it for that moment to come to swoop in.”

Shadow sighed. “I suppose I'll take it with us then and see if Tails can do anything about it.”

“If anyone can figure it out, she can.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For any questions I might get, yes, Tails is a trans girl.
> 
> Knuckles' design: https://aquatic-mines.tumblr.com/post/163302428619/knuckles-design-for-a-fic-im-writing-x


	4. Town by the Sea

Sonic woke up the next day with a yawn, stretching his arms above his head. He looked around and confusion made his heart skip a beat when he realized he wasn't at Tails’ house crashing on the couch.

“Oh, right.” He frowned and slid his legs out from under the blanket as he sat up.

He nearly jumped when he was greeted with a, “Sleep any later and we will be traveling in unbearable heat again.”

Sonic looked up at Shadow with wide eyes. “Have you been here this whole time?!”

“Perhaps.” Shadow said, sitting on one of the beds two away from Sonic.

Upon getting a better look at him when the lights above them flickered to life he saw Shadow looked like he hardly got any rest.

“Ah, sorry. Were you just getting up?” Knuckles asked after he turned the lights on.

“It's fine.” Sonic waved his hand and got his shoes on.

“So how did you both sleep?” The echidna asked.

“I slept alright. Beds are pretty comfy all things considering.”

Shadow didn't reply.

Knuckles nodded and proudly grinned. “Back at HQ we have some old members of different trades, carpenters, quilters, chiefs, you name it and we likely have at least one member who once had a job in that field. Since they all lost their jobs and homes to Eggman they helped us build these bases and on missions. I usually have more members here but…” He paused, frowning.

“I'm sorry.” Sonic said, looking at all the beds that were in the room, wondering what each member was like.

“That's what happens in war. Not everyone comes back. Thankfully we had a few survivors but some won't be able to fight again and the others are recovering at HQ.” Knuckles said before heading towards the kitchen. “We don't have much right now, but I can see what kinda breakfast I can make you two.”

“We need to get going.” Shadow said, his boots on and looking far too eager to leave.

Knuckles glared. “Just cuz you go days without eating doesn't mean we all have to.”

Sonic looked at the two, the tension thick and uncomfortable. “I'll have something to eat. Lemme help you. Then we can go, Shadow.”

The dark hedgehog huffed loudly before turning to the table, grabbing the Chaos Emerald, then heading for entrance of the room. “Fine. I'll be waiting by the door.”

Sonic watched him go before turning to Knuckles with a shrug. “I take it he isn't a morning person.”

“I don't think he's an anytime of the day person.” Knuckles said bitterly before going into the kitchen. “Again, sorry we are low on choices. I have some leftover rice I could heat up.”

Sonic smiled and gave his friend a thumbs up. “Sounds great, buddy. Hit me up.”

Knuckles smiled at this and got to warming up the rice for Sonic.

“So, you talked to Tails?” Sonic asked, getting out a plate for the food after searching through the cabinets for them.

“Yeah. She's all filled in and expecting you.”

“How's she dealing with um.. you know, me?”

Knuckles sighed lightly. “She played it off that she’s fine. Taking it as seriously as possible. But I'm worried it'll all hit her when she finally sees you face to face. She really struggled after losing Sonic...”

Sonic nodded. He couldn't imagine how painful it must be for them to see him after losing their Sonic all those years ago and so tragically. “I'll try to make this as easy on her as I can.”

Knuckles took the plate and poured some rice onto it. “Who knows, maybe seeing you will help her. It could be… um…”

“Cathartic?”

“Yeah.”

“How about you? If things are anything like they are where I'm from then you two were close too.” Sonic said, taking a spoonful of the rice and eating it.

Knuckles crossed his arms. “I’m fine.”

Sonic gave him a skeptical expression with a mouthful of rice.

Knuckles looked away and frowned. “Yeah... It hit me pretty hard too. You get to know a guy and see him do the impossible so many times you start to expect him to be able to get outta every scrape. I should have been ready to deal with things when he didn't come back. No one really was prepared, losing Sonic hurt everyone.”

The hedgehog’s heart broke for them. This made him wonder how many times he had been reckless and narrowly dodged death, how scared his friends were not knowing if he'd come back. “Sorry.” He said simply, hoping Knuckles knew it was for many things.

“It wasn't your fault. If anything you are helping us out now. Picking up where he left off sorta.”

“All he will do is be another force to help take down the Doctor.”

The two looked towards the doorway and Shadow stood there with a glare.

“Shadow-” Sonic started.

“Need I remind you I did not let you live so you can befriend those he left behind and to try and fix their lives. I let you live to add to our power and win a war. Then you will leave our lives.” Shadow said harshly.

Knuckles sighed and got a few canteens that had water in them. “Here. You two should get going to see Tails.”

Sonic took the bottles and looked at the echidna with worry. “Knuckles… Sorry for the trouble.”

Knuckles smiled. “Stop being sorry. Come by again sometime. I'd like to see how you handle yourself in battle. Count me in when you need some muscle.”

Sonic grinned and bumped his fist against the echidna's while being mindful of the spikes on his namesake. “I look forward to you showing me this stronger, faster you.”

Shadow turned to lead the way out and got on his bike once they got to the entrance of the base, starting it up. He handed Sonic the dark cloak.

“Oh, thanks.” Sonic got on behind Shadow and worked to get the cloak on over his quills.

“Security through the Mystic Ruins is heightened closer to the city you passed through. But if you go through the Canyon you could reach Emerald Town by following the shoreline. The security on the dams have been disabled. You remember how to get to the lab?” Knuckles asked Shadow.

“Yes, so long as she hasn't relocated.”

“She hasn't. So far she hasn't been found.”

“Good.” Shadow pulled the goggles he had around his neck over his eyes.

“Oh, and Shadow. The invite to visit again goes to you too. We might not get along but she will be here and would like to see you again.”

Shadow was silent, staring down at the bike.

“Okay, ready when you are.” Sonic called, getting comfortable before putting his hands on Shadow’s waist.

Knuckles opened the doors and watched Shadow drive them out of the base when they made sure it was safe for them to leave. Once they were gone he went back inside and looked towards the room of computers and monitors. “They left.”

“I know.” From the room a bat emerged and she approached the echidna. She stretched her wings out, the one torn and scarred.

“Think he knew you were here?”

“Why do you think he was in a hurry to leave?” She asked. The bat sighed and crossed her arms. “He likely noticed me as soon as he woke early this morning. He was up a while before Sonic but pretended to still be sleeping.”

“How do you know he was awake then?”

She chuckled sadly. “Cuz I know him. He's a light sleeper, you could tell he heard me by the way his ear kept twitching.”

Knuckles growled. “What's his problem anyway? Two years not long enough to keep you waiting?”

She shrugged. “He's likely wrapped up in that head of his again… But still… I wish he would at least look at me. Two years makes it hard to not take it personally.”

Knuckles frowned. “He’s an idiot but he’ll eventually come around, Rouge. He always does.”

She nodded and offered a small smile. “At least I know he's alive now.”

The echidna crossed his arms. “Yeah. Who knows, maybe this Sonic will soften him up.”

“Ol’ Blue always did have a way of getting through to him even when he shut the rest of us out.”

“So did you. Maybe that's why he is avoiding you.”

Rouge let out a sigh. “Who knows.” She smiled to the echidna “Never mind him. Now that it's daylight we can bring that food up from the boat. The dams’ security will be disabled long enough for us to make the trip back safely. I made sure of it.”

“Good. Let's do this.”

-

He remembered bits and parts of that mission that tore their team apart. But the parts he recalled were enough for him to know it was his doing.

“See? You just gotta put a little faith in your team, Shadow. We got your back.”

Rouge’s words still haunted him. His grip on the bike handles tightened.

Stop thinking about it.

He could remember her confidence as she walked ahead of him. The three of them careful not to alert the staff of the base to their infiltration.

Stop thinking about it!

“Detecting high levels of Chaos Energy.”

“You feeling okay with that, Shadow?”

“Yeah. I can take it.”

Stop thinking.

“Shadow! Come on, Omega. Let's get him out of here.”

“Rodger.”

Stop.

“Omega!”

“Hey, Shadow?” Sonic’s voice stirred Shadow from the memory he dwelled on.“You alright? Breathing kinda heavy there, buddy.”

Shadow noticed his racing heart and the tremble in his hands. He internally cursed at himself for displaying such weakness in front of this Sonic. “I'm fine.”

“You sure? Cuz we can switch.”

“Like you could drive.”

Sonic shrugged his shoulders. “I can learn. Really though, don't push yourself if you're-”

Shadow slammed on the breaks and glared at Sonic from over his shoulder. “Don’t act like you know me enough to care for my well being. I don't want your pity nor do I need it. Mind your own business or you can find your way on your own.”

Sonic was silent as Shadow started to drive again, staring at the back of the other hedgehog’s head. 

When they reached the coast he looked out at the ocean and his eyes widened at the sight of the oil filled waters. Out just a ways in the sea looked like a factory that pumped the grime into the ocean. His hold on Shadow tightened as he glared.

Shadow said nothing, not bothering to look at the factory. He had spent enough time helplessly staring at it as it polluted the sea and air.

Sonic’s anger only rose when what was once Emerald Town came to view. The once beautiful coastal town looked hardly taken care of now, dilapidated. A few old robots laid out covered in rust and broken. “What happened here?”

“One of the first battles. The doctor destroyed the town and ran everyone out to build the factory we saw earlier.” Shadow explained as he drove along an old street through the town.

Sonic gasped as he saw one of the old robots move and turn towards them, the hedgehog even more distressed when Shadow stopped. “What are you doing?!”

“Relax. It isn't in his control anymore.” Shadow said as he stood up, pulling from Sonic’s hold to face the robot. It scanned him over and let out a beep. The other robots scattered about shifted back into their original positions after having watched the two come in.

Sonic got off the bike and was also scanned. It stared at him a moment longer than it had Shadow before beeping.

There was a rattling from one of the buildings and Shadow pushed his bike inside, motioning for Sonic to follow.

Inside the old building a part of the floor opened up to show stairs. Shadow took out the Chaos Emerald from inside the bike and walked over to the opening. “You ready?” Shadow asked without turning to the blue hedgehog.

Sonic swallowed the nerves and excitement in his throat, he was going to meet the Tails of this world. His best friend. “Heck yeah!”


	5. Tails

She stared at the screen that flashed before her. Shadow was identified right away and she hit confirm on the options for the guard robot to accept his entry. It let out a beep and moved to the next one.

Her heart hammered in her chest as she stared at the screen. Sonic stared back at the robot and she froze up just for a second before she hit confirm. The robot finally gave a beep and she opened up the hidden entrance to the lab.

It had been awhile since she self consciously stared at her reflection on one of the monitors and made sure her fur wasn't a mess. If this Sonic was like their Sonic used to be then she was worried over nothing, but she still wanted to make a good impression.

She took a deep breath, it shaking a bit as she exhaled, and went to the entrance to greet the two hedgehogs.

Shadow came in first which gave her one last millisecond to brace herself. He nodded to her and stepped aside to let Sonic in.

Sonic wasn't sure what to expect meeting Tails. How different she would be from the Tails from his world. But as soon as he saw her and she smiled at him he was put at ease. “Tails!” He exclaimed with a grin. “Looking good.” He said as if greeting an old friend, which he felt like he was.

Tails was taller than the one back at his world, likely older, and the fur on her head was long enough to be pulled into a high ponytail with her signature bangs. The goggles and jacket she wore were in the same taste as his Tails which he found both amusement and comfort in the similarities.

Tails still felt her heart in her throat and she noticed something Knuckles hadn’t warned her about. “Oh!” She chuckled, hoping it didn't sound as nervous as she felt. “Thanks! You look good too.” Though his looks did concern her. But she felt there wasn’t a need to bring that up right now. Perhaps if she can speak one on one with Shadow later she would see if he saw what she did. “Nice to meet you. Lemme give you the tour.”

“Alright!” Sonic followed Tails into the lab, looking around since staring at her would just make this more awkward. While meeting her made him feel better, he couldn't help but notice the tension. Knuckles’ concerns towards how Tails would handle seeing him in person came to mind and Sonic decided to make sure not to come on too strong even if this is Tails.

Shadow watched the two as Tails showed them around, they were being cautious with each other, walking on eggshells. This wouldn't be an issue if they both would look at this as just temporary, but they cared and it grated on Shadow’s nerves. He paid the annoyance this caused more mind than the concern that sparked at the back of his mind everytime Tails briefly made eye contact with him.

Tails’ lab wasn't too big but also wasn't tiny. There was a workshop area where the newest Tornado sat and was being worked on. Various machines were scattered about this area of the lab that looked to be weapons and gear being made. Sonic wondered how long it had been since Tails was able to fly free in her plane. He could just imagine how stifling it must feel for her. Tinkering and flying was to Tails how running was to Sonic. He looked at the Tornado and thought to himself “Soon.”

In the next room over was a room of monitors far more impressive than the one at the Mystic Ruins base. Shadow always appreciated Tails’ technology so much more after seeing the more simplified version Knuckles had.

Sonic whistled with his hands on his hips. “This setup is sweet, Tails.” He gave her a thumbs up.

The fox girl’s heart swelled with pride and her namesake flicked happily behind her as she chuckled. “It’s the best I can manage right now. I used to have a much bigger lab to work with so I can only have so much here in this space.”

“But the technology is even higher advanced than you used to have back then.” Shadow said in what sounded to be a kind tone.

Sonic looked at the black hedgehog with surprise, he had been quiet this whole time he almost thought he didn't follow them. And while he said it so matter of factly, Sonic couldn't help but feel that Shadow might have been attempting to comfort the girl.

Tails gratefully smiled to Shadow. “Yeah. I guess I have gotten better at it over the years. Thank you, Shadow.”

Sonic swore he saw a smile flash across Shadow’s face for the fox but it was gone in an instant when he held up the encased Chaos Emerald. “I assume the echidna told you about this.”

Tails nodded and went over to the largest monitor in the center of the wall. With her fingertip, she dragged over a window from one of the other screens and enlarged it with her thumb and index finger. “I have an idea of what is wrong with it and it has to do with the unstable levels of positive and negative energies being used.”

She showed them a graphic of the positive energy being removed from an emerald. “With Eggman taking the positive energy, the negative has nowhere to go. So it gets corroded inside the emerald and eventually leaks out.” The picture showed the negative energy spilling out as she spoke.

“So how do we go about fixing it without aid from the Master Emerald?” Sonic asked.

Tails went over to a drawer in the desk. “That’s where one of my side projects come into play.” She held up four rings and looked at Shadow.

The dark hedgehog visibly stood straighter. “Tails you don't mean-”

“Please hear me out.” She smiled sheepishly.

Shadow fell silent.

Sonic motioned to the rings and for Tails to continue. “So what’s this?”

“I made these based off of Shadow’s inhibitor rings. But these will also help him to balance out the negative and positive chaos energy like a filter. And hopefully help him not expend so much at once, better than his current ones do.” Tails explained.

“What makes you sure these will work this time?” Shadow questioned.

Tails pointed to the chaos emerald in his hand. “Because we finally have a chaos emerald to test it with. My idea is you can filter the energy inside this emerald by bringing it into your body and pushing it back into the emerald, the energy passing through the rings and balancing out.”

“We aren't even sure they will work on the energy I use myself. How can we hope to use it on a Chaos Emerald?” Shadow asked.

Tails looked down at the rings in her hands. “I've been working on them since you last visited a few months ago. I think I've finally figured it out. If you'll run some tests with them and we can get them working we can see if they'll help us with cleansing the Chaos Emerald.”

“Fine…” Shadow sighed.

Tails could have cheered but she settled for giddily handing the rings to Shadow and helping him replace his own with them.

“Be careful with mine.” Shadow warned.

Tails nodded, seeming to have been through this before. “I always am. Don’t worry.” She gently put them on her desk. “While we do this, I'll have the computer check a few things with the Chaos Emerald to give us an idea of how much damage was done.”

Shadow handed over the emerald and looked at the new rings around his wrists and ankles. “Have a first aid kit on hand? We should play it safe.”

Tails pulled one out from another drawer and grinned. “Yep!”

Sonic watched the two with conflicting emotions. While he was glad to see they seemed to work well together, he had to wonder how they gained such a relationship. The Shadow and Tails in his world, while respected each other, weren't exactly buddy buddy. “So you two been working on this for a while?”

Tails nodded. “Yeah. Ever since Sonic died we've been trying to figure out a way to make sure it didn't happen again.”

“Make sure what doesn't happen again? Someone dying in general or…?” Sonic asked with clear confusion.

Shadow glared at Tails. “You've told him enough. He doesn't need to know every detail. All he needs to know is his role. Let's get this over with.” Shadow went to the door polar opposite to the workshop that they came in through and went inside.

“Shadow, I-” Tails looked upset for a moment as Shadow walked away and she reached out to him but stopped herself.

Sonic wanted to offer comfort to the fox girl but she recovered before he could think of what to say.

“Sorry we won't have much for you to do yet. You can stay with me while we watch Shadow. Then we can figure out what our next step will be.” She said and went to the chair in the center of the room of computers.

A few taps and the main screen had video from inside the room Shadow walked into. On the others it had readings Sonic didn't quite understand but assumed had to do with the rings.

Tails aimed a mic towards her and pushed a button. “Can you hear me alright Shadow?”

“Yes.”

“Good. We’ll start off slow with a small Chaos Spear. Think that'll be okay?”

Sonic remembered the last time Shadow used his Chaos Spear, how it tore up the fingers that shot it. He eyed the screen hoping it won't happen again but bracing himself for it.

“Put up the first target.” Shadow replied, eyes trained on the wall in front of him.

Tails pushed another button and a makeshift robot cut out emerged from a slot in the wall. Shadow’s hand glowed for a second then the energy shot out and destroyed the target.

“How’s the hand?” Tails asked.

Shadow flexed the hand he used and was quiet a moment.

“Shadow?”

“Next target.”

Tails looked at the readings and smiled. “It’s working.” She grinned and gave Sonic a thumbs up before sending another target out for Shadow.

They spent some time like this until Tails was confident that Shadow could at least use a weaker Chaos Spear without hurting himself now. When she made sure he wasn't exhausting himself she brought out bigger targets and urged him to put more power behind his throws.

Shadow destroyed the first target and felt a strain in his arm. He ignored it and hit the second one though his accuracy seemed to suffer this time.

“You were a bit off centered that time, was that on purpose or is something wrong?”

Shadow glared at the target he failed to hit dead center on, of course she would pick up on his mistake. “It was a miscalculation. Give me another target.”

Tails silently put up another and once again Shadow’s aim was off. She frowned as she looked at Shadow, he seemed calm but she could only imagine this was frustrating for him. “It’s been awhile since you were able to give it more juice, so don't worry about it. We just gotta get you used to doing it ag-”

“Another target, Tails.”

Tails stared at him and noticed a tremble in his throwing arm. But she pushed the button for the target anyway.

Shadow’s aim was even worse and he held his arm with a wince after his shot.

Tails got up right away and grabbed the first aid kit.

Sonic stood back as she went into the room, watching as she went to Shadow and looked at his arm. She undid the current bandages he wore and removed his gloves, examining for wounds. Sonic saw the extent of the damage under the bandages Shadow’s arms and more so his hands had taken. The scaring looked like they had been caused by burns and Sonic flinched recalling the bleeding again after Shadow used Chaos Spear in the city.

“I don't see anything fresh thankfully.” Tails confirmed. “But I think we should stop for now.” She said as she led the way out of the room.

Shadow looked like he wanted to argue against the thought of stopping, but he sighed and nodded, following her out. “It felt more like it was muscle pain. Likely from being rusty. Like you said, it has been a long time since I've been able to use that much of my power.”

Tails smiled up at him. “But now we know you can, so this is progress! Now we just need to slowly get your body used to using this much power again and work our way up from there.”

Shadow glared as he looked at his hand. “Who knows how long that'll take. We don't have time to take it slow.”

Sonic walked over and grinned. “Don't worry, buddy. While you work on your swing I can run a few errands and get some of Eggman’s eyesores cleaned up a bit.”

Shadow wanted to shut down Sonic’s plan but rationally it was the only thing they could do about their current predicament besides sit around and watch Shadow practice. But the idea coming from Sonic annoyed him to no end.

“That sounds like a good idea.” Tails chirped. She looked back at Shadow. “I'll go over the best area for Sonic to run through. You should go rest, you look tired.”

Shadow crossed his arms and looked anywhere but at Tails or Sonic. “I'm fine.”

Sonic chuckled. “Take a breather. I got it from here.”

Shadow stared at Sonic as the blue hedgehog gave him a thumbs up. He made the mistake of looking a second too long and he angrily brushed past to go to the third door the computer room led to, which had living quarters not nearly as big as the one at the Mystic Ruins base.

Tails frowned as she watched Shadow close the door behind him. “Sorry. Don't take his behavior personally. I think he’s upset he can't go out on the field with you yet.”

Sonic shrugged. “I try never to take anything that guy says and does personally. But I gotta ask… What happened exactly with the whole ‘making sure it doesn't happen again’ thing?”

Tails turned off the view of the practice room and she looked at the inhibitor rings Shadow left on the desk. “It’s… how Sonic died that we wanted to prevent from happening again. I assumed Knuckles would have told you but with Shadow there I'm glad he didn't…”

Sonic watched how the subject impacted the fox girl. “If it isn’t something I need to keep an eye out for then we don't need to talk about it.”

“... No. You should know since you traveled with Shadow here and will likely partner with him again…” Tails said and turned to Sonic. “Shadow said he was the reason for Sonic’s death. Not willingly, but it was by his power that Sonic was killed…”

Sonic was stunned for a moment before he frowned. “This gotta do with his powers hurting him to use?”

Tails picked up one of the inhibitor rings. “Eggman had figured out a way to nullify Shadow’s rings when he got close. I've tested them so many times to see if maybe somehow he tampered with them without Shadow knowing, but I found nothing. So I assume he found information on them in hidden files he dug up back when they worked together on ARK. Shadow knows Eggman dug into Professor Gerald’s hidden projects and documents and thinks if he had found this information back then then he likely has been toying with a way to use Shadow in such a way all this time. So he very well could have come up with a machine to cancel out the inhibitor rings in that time.”

“He's always up to something so I wouldn't put it past him.” Sonic replied but instantly regretted saying it that way by Tails’ frustrated expression.

“We were fools… After ARK we thought Eggman changed. He turned himself in and really pulled the ‘turning over a new leaf’ act off well and for five years… He even helped fix many of the messes he made in the past, like the moon after he blew part of it up. Heck, he gained the trust of G.U.N. and was able to get them off Shadow’s back.”

“Wait, what?” Sonic asked, all of this news to him. “Eggman went good for five years?”

She nodded. “Judging by your reaction I'm guessing he never did in your world…”

“Nope. He went right back to his old ways. And I'm pretty sure he screwed Shadow over after saving him from his fall from ARK. So…”

Tails now was who wore a surprised expression. “Shadow fell from ARK in your world?”

“Yeah… Did he not here?”

Tails shook her head. “No. I mean, he was passed out and no longer in his super form after they stopped the crashing ARK, but Sonic brought him back with him.” She sadly smiled. “I guess that really started their closeness, that battle.”

Sonic tried not to look too surprised but he was blown away. Eggman was able to pull off being ‘good’ for five years? Sonic had managed to save Shadow from falling from ARK? Hearing that now he could understand how Shadow and Sonic could have gotten close. He put a hand over his chest as he felt a guilt he hadn't paid a mind to for years. Could things have been different if he were able to have saved Shadow in his world? Would they be in the same situation as this world? Would he and Shadow be on different more friendly terms?

“It seems we do have quite a bit of differences in our worlds.” Tails said, her smile kind and reassuring.

“Yeah. I’m sure we could go over all the differences and take days just talking about it. But maybe we should save that for later.”

She nodded. “Yes. Right now what you need to know is about Sonic’s death. Well, to put it simply, without the inhibitor rings keeping Shadow’s powers controlled at a certain level all Eggman had to do was get Shadow to absorb too much Chaos Energy and have his powers go out of control. So as you see now, the Emerald’s he has are letting out negative energy. Shadow and Sonic while checking on Eggman were exposed to that energy and Shadow was overwhelmed by it. All he tried doing was a simple Chaos Spear but what came out was a really powerful Chaos Blast. He said the blast and the collapsing base was what killed Sonic. We never found a body so I can't confirm which did it… Either way, Shadow blames himself.”

Sonic was silent as Tails paused. Frowning as she said in a small voice. “And at first so did I…”

She bit her lip, guilt clearly eating her up. “I was a kid who lost her best friend. And right as my life was really changing too. I handled it badly. But eventually I realized that I knew Shadow well enough through Sonic to know he'd never hurt Sonic. And then realized he was also hurt and needed help.”

Sonic smiled. “You must have helped if he cares about you as much as he seems to.”

Tails looked up with surprise. “You think so?”

Sonic chuckled. “Yeah. I mean, Knuckles said he hasn't been around for a long time. Then you say it has only been a few months since you've seen him? So you must have struck a chord with him for him to visit you when he isn't with the others.”

Tails smiled. “I'm glad.” She tugged at her jacket a bit as she spoke. “And, not just cuz it's what Sonic would want. But cuz getting to know Shadow myself helped me through that loss. While I lost someone who was my hero, my big brother… I gained another.” She blushed a bit and bashfully twirled the tip of her long ponytail on her fingers. “Sorry I'm kinda unloading a lot there. You’re just… so much like him. It’s easy to talk to you.”

Sonic put a hand on her shoulder and winked. “Anytime you need to unload I'm all ears. And maybe if you're ever feeling really brave let Shadow know how you feel about him. Maybe that'll cheer him up too.”

She nodded. “I will! Thanks Sonic.”

-

Shadow stood on the other side of the door listening. He wanted to stop, he didn't want to hear this. He already knew what happened with Sonic and that Tails originally blamed him. The twisting stab of guilt edged its way deeper into his chest. 

“While I lost someone who was my hero, my big brother… I gained another.”

He froze as he heard this, his hand still trembling as he raised it to cover a smile that started to shakily form on his face. It was such a conflicted feeling as his eyes burnt, his heart ached, and yet a small fluttering warmth bloomed in the center of all these negative emotions.

Then he had to reel himself back in. This is how you open yourself up to being broken down. You let someone get in, let them make you feel happiness surrounding their feelings for you and how they make you feel.

For a moment he pictured Tails’ face and her smile and it felt so familiar. Her face turned to another blonde girl with kind blue eyes. Shadow let out a heavy sigh.

He listened in a bit longer as Sonic encouraged Tails and they got to talking about a plan.

“Take a breather. I got it from here.” Sonic’s words and his smile from before were still so clear in his mind. And Shadow being the fool he was let himself see the similarities. He had to stop doing that. He had to stop projecting the people of his past to those right in front of him. How many times did he have to learn the hard way that by doing so only opens himself up to being hurt again?

He took a deep breath and went to a cot, having heard enough. He laid his head down, telling himself he was only doing this to fulfill the promises he made. His promise to Maria to give this world a chance and to protect it, and his promise to Sonic to take care of Tails. Now that he thought of it he also told himself he needed to stop making promises.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I will have a pic of my Tails design up soon. But I didn't wanna delay this chapter any longer just because I didn't finish that.
> 
> I try to upload once a month. That being said, there is a lot going on irl for me so there might be times where I'm a little late. I apologize for that ahead of time.
> 
> I also would like to thank everyone who has shown interest and their support for this fic! It means a lot and keeps me going with it.
> 
> edit:  
> Tails design is up! https://aquatic-mines.tumblr.com/post/166761241409/finally-finished-tails-design-in-the-fic-im


	6. Old Feelings

“Shadow! How are you holding up?”

“I'm fine. From the looks of it this thing won't last much longer.”

“Yeah, let's finish it off!”

Shadow raised his hands, staring up at the falling ARK and the dying monster trying desperately to crash it into the planet. He looked over to the golden hedgehog flanking the beast as Sonic raised his hands as well.

As he watched the beast he realized at the speed the ARK was falling that they didn't have enough power to stop it and teleport it back into place. Memories of a voice begging him to keep his promise pushed him to try anyway, to give it all he's got. He removed his inhibitor rings and shouted the promise he made all those years ago.

As he got ready to unleash his power he felt a hand take his own, halting his actions. When he looked at the golden hedgehog suddenly at his side he saw a smile and their power mixed into one.

“Together.” Sonic said, holding up his right hand.

Shadow held out his left, any doubts he had about their success were overwhelmed by the warmth the hand in his own gave, the confidence of the owner of said hand, and the smile of the blonde girl from his past.

“Chaos control!”

The light his body gave off faded and he felt himself sink. His vision blurred and the last thing he saw was the bright color of gold surrounding him.

“I got you buddy.”

-

He woke up disoriented at the dark room he laid in. When he realized it was just a memory he had dreamt he had to ignore the ache that wrapped itself around his heart as it always did when he had dreams like this. It was pointless to long for the past, he knew this better than most. But knowing wasn't enough to erase the feeling, all it did was make it easier to recognize the emotion and try to not get stuck in it.

The door opened slowly and he sat up so the fox knew he was up.

“Shadow? How are you feeling?” Tails asked as she walked into the room.

“Better.” Physically.

“Good. I actually wanted to talk to you about something. Wanna join me for breakfast?” She asked hopefully.

“Where’s Sonic?” He asked, knowing fully well if he saw the blue hedgehog right now his mood would worsen. He needed at least an hour to shake the feelings the dream left him with and seeing the other world’s Sonic would just ruin the memory.

“Knuckles picked him up half an hour ago for a mission.” Tails said, looking down at the floor. “I wanted to go with them but Knuckles wanted to test this Sonic so they'll be training first. You know how he gets with his training.” She chuckled with a smile, eyes returning to Shadow.

The hedgehog had slipped his boots back on and fastened his belt around his waist. “His method of training is best for this situation. We need to see how Sonic handles himself under pressure in a fight.” Shadow picked up his goggles and hung them around his neck.

“True. But I worry this Sonic will be at a disadvantage against Knuckles. Which leads to what I wanted to talk to you about.”

Shadow approached the fox girl and motioned for her to lead the way out.

They went to the lab where Tails started rummaging through a fridge and some boxes of food from Headquarters she had yet to put away. “Sorry for the mess. I just restocked the lab with food a few days ago and with this whole Sonic thing I've been distracted.”

Shadow sat at a desk, moving a few gadgets the girl had scattered about. “What did you wish to discuss?”

Tails looked up as she held up a frying pan. “Well, I noticed something about this Sonic when he walked in and I wanted to run it by you.” She paused to take out a container of eggs from the fridge.

Shadow watched her as she got to cooking them food. Normally he wouldn't eat with how his stomach was in knots, but he was finally starting to feel hunger after days of not eating. Even the ultimate life form had to eat once in awhile. He silently waited for her to continue.

“… Maybe I'm just over thinking it. But he looks… well, the same way ours did before he died.” Tails turned to Shadow. “I mean… about the same age.”

Shadow thought back to finding Sonic at the old abandoned base, the look on Tails’ face said he might have shown his concern on his face by mistake so he quickly settled his expression into a trained neutral stare.

“You saw it too…?” She asked, her soft concern almost annoying. It wasn't her fault, his annoyance was at himself if anything. She knew him well enough at this point to catch his slip ups at least. Or perhaps he slipped up because of her and the more familiar relationship they had developed since Sonic’s passing.

“Yeah. He looks exactly like ours had five years ago. Early 20s.”

Tails put their food onto old plates and brought them over to the table, returning to get water as well. “It’s like seeing a ghost…”

Shadow frowned down at the food. “I originally suspected him to be another fake the Doctor sent us to try to rattle us up.”

Tails sat down next to Shadow, staring at the hedgehog. “It must have been hard for you to have seen him… I was able to prepare myself for it so… And even then it still hurts.” She hesitated, quiet as she tried to get an idea of Shadow’s current disposition.

Tails might have asked Shadow something, but his focus was elsewhere.

-

He was returning to his usual resting area. The old base, while held memories of a past battle, also provided shade in the overwhelming sunlight and safety from being found by Eggman’s robot patrol.

As he got closer he noticed a skid mark in the soil and slowed to a stop. Looking closer at them he saw they seemed to be from a pair of feet instead of wheels. He gripped at the cloak that hung over his shoulders and head, debating on leaving to find a safer place to rest. But he knew that there wasn't much else the wasteland had to offer as far as hiding and shade went. So he pushed his bike inside and made sure to leave it where it wouldn't be seen from outside.

He followed the hallway on high alert. He tensed when he heard a sound ahead and he out of habit held his hand out to ready a chaos spear. The ache reminded him he was still recovering from having used it recently so instead he grabbed the gun from his belt.

He saw the figure staring up at an old destroyed robot. He silently approached and when he heard the intruder speak his skin crawled and heartbeat quickened.

“You're not moving anytime soon.”

“Neither are you.” He used the gun to strike the other hedgehog in the back of the head.

Shadow looked down at the collapsed hedgehog, that voice, that blue fur. He knelt down and turned the hedgehog onto his back. His heart tightened and twisted in his chest. It was him, it was Sonic.

Then he noticed the Chaos Emerald the hedgehog dropped. It was in a case that looked like it has seen better days. He picked it up and dragged the hedgehog into a room where he tied him up.

Looking at him felt unreal, his mind felt to be in a fog and his body tingled with a chilling numbness. He could hardly feel the encased emerald in his hand, all he felt was a sluggish shock that caused his limbs to tremble. Breathe, remember how to breathe.

He turned away and went back into the hall, he noticed that he was sweating and his breathing shook as much as his hands. Shadow closed his eyes tightly, trying to hold back the bile that burnt the back of his throat. This had to be a fake. Another imposter. Just a really good one. The doctor was getting better at this. Of all times that the annoying echidna wasn't around, he seemed to react to seeing that face with anger and action instead of the guilt and remorse Shadow froze up at.

Weak. Weak. Weak.

“Hey! Is anyone there?”

The fake Sonic was awake. He took a deep breath and gripped the case the emerald was inside, the edges dug into his injured fingers and grounded him. He could do this.

-

“Shadow?”

Tails’s worried voice caught his attention finally. “Sorry. I missed that, repeat what you said?” Shadow said.

“I asked if you're okay to talk about this. We can stop if it is too much right now.” She answered, cutting at the eggs with her fork and taking a mouthful.

Shadow thoughtfully poked at his own plate with a fork. It was coming to a boil, he felt the whole situation poking tiny holes in his mental state and, much like the eggs on his plate, after enough prodding it is bound to break apart. “I'm fine.”

But Tails knew Shadow better than that. This would have worked on her five years ago back when she was just getting used to the black hedgehog stopping by looking for Sonic, but now she could tell when he was putting on a strong front. She silently ate her food, dropping the conversation.

Shadow gripped his fork, this could be important to talk about. It could give them a better idea of what they are dealing with. And maybe Tails needed to talk about this. He took the glass of water and sipped it before speaking up. “So their time maybe runs slower than ours does.”

Tails looked at Shadow, unsure if this really was okay or if Shadow was being stubborn again.

Shadow caught her hesitation and continued. “You're concerned about his age and their time being different.”

Tails frowned. “Yeah… Shadow, what if we're wrong and he isn't from another world, but another reality which follows our chain of events. He told me something different happened on ARK ten years ago when we first met you. He said you… you fell… But here you came back with us from ARK.”

Shadow silently ate a bit of his eggs and watched the fox girl explain her thoughts.

“What if we took their Sonic away, what if by doing that causes their world to fall into Eggman’s control like ours did when our Sonic died?”

Shadow sighed, this was one of many possibilities he himself thought of but dared not worry on for too long. “We can't dwell on that possibility, Tails. We don't have the time for that. Besides, we can't get him back without the emeralds for Chaos Control anyway.” It was a cold response but if he were to soften up for her every time then she would get her hopes up.

She nodded and took her empty plate over to the sink, adding it to a pile there. “You're right. We gotta focus on us first.” She frowned sadly down at the sink for a moment before turning and smiling at the black hedgehog. “I'll go get the training room setup while you eat! I'm sure you wanna get right to practicing using your powers again!”

Shadow watched as the girl took off, glad she recovered from that as fast as she did. She was getting better at it after five years of Shadow’s harsh indifference or blunt way of putting things in comparison so Sonic’s optimistic friendly personality that she was much more used to.

He was surprised when he thought about another woman who was able to brush that part of him off without it soiling her day. He felt that stomach churning guilt again and put the rest of his food in the fridge for later.

-

Sonic narrowly dodged a blow that shattered the very ground he stood a moment before, whistling as he ran. “You weren't kidding when you said you got faster!” He grinned back at the echidna.

Knuckles rose from the crater he made, the wastelands now having an area covered in them. 

Sonic turned when he felt he had enough space between them and saw Knuckles still over by where his impact was. “Not gonna give chase?” He saw the sun blocked out above him and he looked up to see a large boulder falling towards him Knuckles must have thrown when he wasn't looking. “Crap!”

When he bolted out of the way he was met with a fist that barely missed his stomach, the spikes on Knuckles’ fists grazing against the skin. He winced and twisted to get away from what he thought was another punch but was actually a grab, latching to Shadow’s cloak Sonic still wore.

Sonic gagged as Knuckles yanked him back, the hedgehog launched into the boulder he just avoided. He coughed as he tugged at the collar of the cloak. “What… happened to needing the cloak to hide who I am while out here?” He said in a croaky voice.

Knuckles grabbed over Sonic’s hand and pinned him. “Eggman isn't gonna fight fair with you.”

Sonic smirked. “I didn't think he would. Though frankly I'm more worried about how Shadow would react to his cloak being torn apart then Egghead.”

Knuckles released Sonic and frowned. “He knows how fighting can get out here and that I don't hold back.”

“Alright boys, I think you've got good enough of a work out. Let's get this mission in before someone injures himself again.” The disembodied voice said in the headsets both wore.

Knuckles glared and his cheeks flushed. “I'm fine, Rouge.” He gruffly spoke into the mic.

Sonic laughed, on his feet again. “Yeah, no worries. I'm here to make sure he doesn't over do it.”

“Well, thanks Blue. Now you two head over to the drop point. I sent it over to you.”

Sonic looked at the screen of the device around his wrist. His Tails may have made it but the Tails here had added several things in the hardware to work here too. And charged it for him. “Got it.”

Knuckles peeked over Sonic’s shoulder at the screen. “I'll lead the way.” He rolled his shoulders and walked over to the wheeless hooded vehicle they rode over in. He opened the back and tossed Sonic a water bottle, drinking his own and using a towel to wipe away the sweat from his neck and forehead.

Sonic studied the map on his watch and frowned. “This looks like it's where the old temple is… was… it still there?”

Knuckles frowned. “Eggman used its structure but it's over run by his robots that have been digging inside. Eggman seems to feel there might be further secrets that were left behind in it.”

“Then it's our job to stop them.”

“Not just that.”

Sonic tilted his head and Knuckles grinned. “The Temple holds the Chaos Emerald of the area, powering the machines inside. If we can find it we can shut them down and get back the ruins!”

Sonic beamed. “I assume I have your approval for going on such an important mission?”

Knuckles closed his eyes with a shrug “I dunno, I did kick your butt.” He opened an eye and smirked at Sonic.

Sonic stood his his hands on his hips. “I did pretty good for a while. You just got lucky at the end there. Besides. Since when have Eggman robots been stronger than you?”

Knuckles looked at his hand and flexed it. “True. If you can keep on your toes with me you should be fine.”

Sonic noticed the almost somber tone in his voice. “Something wrong?”

Knuckles sighed. “This last year I've been recovering on and off from self inflicted injuries. Fighting again is taking some getting used to.”

“You're hurting yourself?” Sonic asked, trying not too sound alarmed.

“Not on purpose. But believe it or not I have my limits. And since Sonic died I had to up my game. Faster. Stronger. My body could only take so much… I tried to fill his shoes, but there are just some things I can't do on my own.”

“You never had to do it on your own, dummy.” Rouge’s voice said through the headset.

Knuckles smiled a bit. “I know that now.”

Sonic looked over the places Knuckles had the KT tape over and placed a hand on his shoulder, giving his friend his signature thumbs up. “Well, now we will work as a team. All of us.”

Knuckles nodded and his expression brightened. “Yeah.”

The two finished rehydrating and got into the vehicle, Knuckles driving them to their destination.

 

The ruins was a mix of the past and future, stone and metal. Sonic could only imagine how inside looked now.

“Alright, Rouge. We’re here.” Knuckles said in a hushed voice.

“Good. I sent over your distraction. You'll be going in as he keeps the guards busy. From there, you boys find a way to get me hooked into their system and I'll find you the room the emerald is in.”

Sonic looked back to the temple. “So what is our cue?” He flinched as an explosion went off on the opposite side of the temple.

“That would be it. Good luck, you two!” Rouge teased.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact: I am the WORST at titles.


	7. The Second Emerald

“Woah, what was that?”

“Judging by the explosions I'm gonna assume Omega is our diversion.” Knuckles said, fitting his hands into what looked to be upgraded versions of his shovel claws. They locked into place and he flexed his hands inside the weapons. “Let's do this.”

Sonic looked over towards the Temple and saw the familiar entrance.

“Omega’s distraction won't keep things clear for long. Work in a timely manner, you two.” Rouge calmly reminded them.

“Rouge, have Omega briefly aim towards the entrance. We need some smoke cover to slip inside without already being detected.” Knuckles ordered.

“Got it.”

In a moment they saw the figure of the destructive robot firing on the side of the temple Sonic was watching, the bullets and blasts kicking up plenty dust and smoke.

“Now!” Knuckles said and lead the charge inside as Omega continued to on.

Sonic caught up in no time and grabbed Knuckles’ wrist, rushing them inside the Temple. He slowed to a stop once they made a few turns to a hall where there wasn't as much activity. He smirked at Knuckles as he made sure he had his footing. “You might have gotten faster but you looked like you still needed a boost.”

Knuckles cracked a smile for a moment but quickly replaced it with a stern frown as alarms blared through the base. “Let’s hope those are Omega’s doing and we haven’t been noticed yet.” He looked over the walls and frowned. While the walls in many places were still the original stone the Temple was made from, much had been removed and replaced with steel or simply removed to enter into newly made rooms. “They’ve done more to the insides since I was last here…”

“Yeah, this isn’t gonna be easy. It’s like a labyrinth in here.” Sonic’s ears twitched as he heard rapidly approaching footsteps and he grabbed Knuckles by the arm, pulling him into a nearby gap in the wall that took them to a dark dug out room.

A group of robots rushed past to aid with guarding the entrance of the Temple, weapons drawn.

“Rouge, better tell Omega he’s got more company coming.” Knuckles whispered once the group passed.

“Knuckles, look.”

The echidna turned to where Sonic pointed and saw a robot sitting against the wall at the other side of the cramped room. “Careful.” He hissed as the hedgehog approached it.

“Don’t worry, I think it’s outta commission.” Sonic said, motioning to a big hole in its chest.

Knuckles walked over to it, impressed by the damage. “Someone got to it before we did it seems. We better be careful, we don’t know if this was an ally or foe.”

“Wouldn’t anyone who trashes an eggbot be an ally? At least for the time being.” Sonic asked.

 

Knuckles frowned. “You’d be surprised how many low lives take advantage of the world’s current state for their own benefit.”

“Yeah, those pesky treasure hunters, huh Knuckles?” Rouge playfully teased in his ear.

Knuckles grumbled. “If I catch one of those low lives in here going after the emerald I swear I’ll-”

“Let’s not get too worked up just yet. Rouge, think we can get any information from what’s left of the robot?” Sonic asked, using his watch to light it up and send her a visual.

“If you can find a place to plug me in I can try to hack into the data inside it.”

Sonic nodded and with Rouge guiding him he found a way to hook up his watch to the robot.

“This may take a while so make yourselves comfy, but keep low.” Rouge warned as she got to work.

-

“Any update yet?”

“Nope. I’m going to assume no word means so far so good. Do you need a break?”

Shadow frowned and rolled his shoulders. He could keep going, but there was a nagging thought that kept creeping up and shaking his focus away from his training. He silently turned to the door and returned to the computer room where Tails sat at the monitors.

“You’re doing great, Shadow! At this rate it won’t take long before you can-”

“Give me the Chaos Emerald.”

Tails stared at the hedgehog, dumbfounded for a moment before she looked to the new case on the desk that held the Chaos Emerald. “Are you sure? It’s still pretty contaminated and we just started your training…”

“I have a feeling we will need it sooner than later.” Shadow frowned. When he was handed the encased emerald he looked back to Tails. “Will the training room be enough incase things go south?”

Tails nodded. “I wouldn't have you training there if it couldn't.” She smiled. “And I believe in you.”

Shadow stared at the fox girl in silence. “Your blind faith is appreciated but I would feel better doing this where you can't get hurt.”

Tails opened a few windows containing charts and readings on one of the monitors. “If something goes wrong I'll see it on the monitors before it should get out of control. Don't worry about that part. Leave that to me. You focus on filtering the Chaos Energy.”

Shadow watched her give him a thumbs up and he let out a sigh. “Fine.” He turned back to the training room and awaited Tails.

“Alright, I'm just about ready out here.”

The hedgehog removed the lid of the case, already feeling the energy that leaked out. Taking a deep breath he awaited the okay to start from Tails.

-

“See? You just gotta put a little faith in your team, Shadow. We got your back.” Rouge said with a wink as she peered around the corner of the empty hall inside one of the many Eggman bases that had been built over the three years. She lead the way in, having already snuck in earlier to get a layout of where things were before she brought in her teammates.

Omega was silent but Shadow could tell he ached to start the attack on the base. He had offered to unleash his attack to keep the attention on himself so the other two could sneak in but Rouge insisted they stuck together. The hedgehog knew it was for their own safety really. If he should succumb to the unstable chaos energy again, Omega would be able to find a way to stop him without being blown away. After all, he was created in secret for 5 years to be able to take down the ultimate life form.

Shadow clenched his fists. They only brought him along to try and test the waters to get him back in action. To cheer him up. He felt pathetic, needing Omega to babysit him so he could come along in an attempt to feel useful.

“Detecting high levels of Chaos Energy.” Omega warned.

“You feeling okay with that, Shadow?” Rouge paused to look at the hedgehog. They were worried about how he would handle the energy as they got closer. It was nice to know they cared but he couldn’t help but feel more of a dead weight than helpful.

“Yeah. I can take it.” He said as he pressed on. He could feel the spike in the energy too. It sent tingles up his spine that spread to the rest of his limbs. It made him all to aware of the blood pumping through his body and the pulse that sounded in his temples to the beat of his steadily increasing heartbeat. He touched the inhibitor ring on his left wrist, focusing on his breathing. It would be alright. Tails made sure these would work better than his old ones. It won’t happen again.

You won’t lose control. You won’t lose control.

They reached the hall where Rouge said lead to the room the Chaos Emerald was being kept when the tightness in Shadow’s chest came to the point where the discomfort became pain. All his senses were on high alert and overwhelming. He felt like his body was about to explode like a balloon with way too much air. He gripped at his chest as he leaned against the wall for support, feeling his body curl in on himself.

He could barely hear Rouge as she spoke. “Shadow! Come on, Omega. Let's get him out of here.” He wasn’t sure, but Rouge might have touched his shoulder.

“Rodger.”

Just like that it all came out in a bright Chaos Burst. Omega shoved Rouge behind himself to shield her as the blast erupted from their friend.

“Omega!” Rouge’s shouts were somehow heard over the horrible ringing in Shadow’s ears and his own screaming. They were the last things his senses picked up on. Everything else had faded into a foggy numbness until he passed out.

-

“Shadow, you ready?”

“Yeah.” Shadow removed the emerald from the case and held it in his hand. The negative energy it exuded made him light headed but he grasped it tight and took a breath, absorbing it into his body.

Tails watched the screens with much anxiety as she kept an eye on the readings of the emerald and on Shadow. She nervously chewed at her lip. “C’mon, Shadow. You can do this.”

-

Sonic clenched his jaw as he ducked as low as he could while still running. Bullets buzzed past his head and pelted the walls, some ricocheting and going in all different directions. With a leap, he used the wall as leverage and launched himself at the robots that followed behind him, tucking into a roll and ripping through with his spikes due to the velocity he moved at.

“Sonic, let’s go!” Knuckles called out from where he dug into the wall of a narrow path Sonic guarded from the robots that had been alerted to their presence.

Sonic wrecked the last robot of the group that had come to deal with them and ran over to the opening. Looking in made a rush of anxious energy rush up his limbs. “Oh, so this waterway is still functioning.” He said as he looked down to the rushing water below that the hole Knuckles dug lead to.

Knuckled looked up at Sonic with a raised brow. “Is that a problem? We were hoping it still worked so we could follow the water down.”

“Yeah, I know.” Sonic stretched his arms over his head as an excuse to not have to look directly at Knuckles.

The echidna stood up and took Sonic’s hand, yanking the watch towards him and looking at the map Rouge had sent them. “This waterway will take us to the biggest room in the temple. I’m betting that would be where Eggman would have the big machines. The Chaos Emerald would need quite the impressive machine to control it like that, so…” He looked up from the watch to Sonic. “Is something wrong?”

“Well.” Sonic dragged out the vowel as he tried and failed to find a better way to break this to Knuckles. “I don’t know about your Sonic, but I don’t mix too well with water unless I can book it across. So um, I guess a heads up cuz I sink like a rock.”

Knuckles slowly cracked a smile. “So did our Sonic no matter how often I offered to teach him.” He turned back to the waterway and cracked his namesake. “I can handle the water. Just hold on to me and you’ll be fine.”

Sonic looked over the athletic tape that hugged the primary muscles the echidna used, worried about Knuckles over exerting himself and getting hurt trying to make up for Sonic’s inability to swim. He smiled as Knuckles looked back to him for an answer. “Alright. I’m counting on you, buddy.” He winked.

Knuckles grinned and stretched out the air necklace around his neck and gave a thumbs up. “I got you.” He moved his headset a bit to speak into the mic. “Rouge, I found a way in. We might lose a signal in the waterways but we’ll get back to you as soon as we get out.”

“Okay, be careful you two. Omega is going to have to withdraw soon so be snappy.”

“Yeah, yeah. Talk to you soon.”

Sonic held to Knuckles’ shoulders as the echidna readied himself to leap down to the rushing water below. He knew if he expressed his concern for his partner then Knuckles’ confidence might get shaken after having been on and off of recovery from injuries he likely never got the chance to fully heal from. He also knew that doing this could leave Knuckles out of commission, but it was the fasted route to get the Emerald and do as much damage to the base as they could. And Knuckles was aware of his limits and how far he can push himself, he wouldn’t offer to carry him if he didn’t think he could. Not at the cost of their mission. So the hedgehog decided to trust in the echidna and hold tight as they jumped down.

The water was cold and right away Sonic shuttered, remembering having to ride a few of these waterways before in his world when he chased Eggman through the Temple all those years ago. Like then, he didn’t have time to give into panic. He had to act now and what he could do right then and there was focus on holding to Knuckles and keeping his head above water.

Knuckles swam with the current, breathing through the necklace so he didn’t have to worry about air while supporting Sonic. The tape kept his muscles from moving in a way that would injure him, even so it was rather difficult swimming while carrying Sonic. He was just thankful he didn’t have to fight the current.

Sonic looked ahead of them the further down they went, the walls that surrounded the half tube like slopes soon gave way to reveal the large room the water lead to. Large machines filled the room, the waterways spilling into ones that used the rushing water to further power the tech. Sonic looked to where their waterway lead to and yelled out for the echidna below, but wasn’t heard over the water.

“Crap.” Sonic thought quickly, took a deep breath, and gripped Knuckles’ upper arm while trying to lunge towards one of the sides. He toppled over into the water, falling off Knuckles but managing to grab the ledge. He tugged Knuckles towards him to help as the echidna swam over until he slid from the slick sides.

Knuckles punched into the stone edge and took hold of Sonic, pulling him close and propping them up above the water. “What were you thinking?! You could have gotten killed!”

“Look!” Sonic breathlessly pointed behind him at the machine below. “How much you wanna bet that thing isn’t very hedgehog or echidna friendly?”

Knuckles hid his surprise with a frown. He looked out at the room below. “There, in the middle. I can sense the emerald.”

Sonic looked over the edge in time to see a weapon hit a machine near the room’s doors with a loud crash, a masked figure rushed in to retrieve the weapon and continued their onslaught. “Looks like someone beat us to the punch.”

Knuckles glared. “We gotta get that emerald before they do.” He hoisted himself up over the ledge, pulling Sonic along with him. He looked for an opening until a blast jolted his attention back to the door. Another figure came in, attacking the one that was destroying the machines. “Seems like a robot. Now’s our chance to-Sonic!”

Sonic has run off down down the ledge, leaping to the machine the water fell into and slid down it to the ground.

Knuckled growled and leapt down as well, having to remind himself just how much like their Sonic this Sonic was.

The hedgehog ran between the two and curled up as he jumped at the robot to knock it back with his spikes. He look over his shoulder to who had previously been destroying the machines. “Hey, looks like you could use a hand.” He grinned.

“Son..ic?”

The hedgehog didn’t have time to converse with the stranger more as the robot fired at him. He rolled out of the way and squinted against the debris that was shot up. The robot rose and approached, Sonic was taken a bit aback by the robot’s resemblance to his image. “Metal?”

Knuckles charged the robot, his blow just narrowly dodged. The stranger grabbed their weapon, Sonic now seeing it was a large hammer, and swung as the robot’s focus was on the echidna. It used rockets on it’s back to shoot itself away from the attack and the stranger looked back at Sonic then at the red mammal. “Knuckles! What are you doing here?”

“Amy?!” He jumped out of the way of a blast from Metal Sonic. “Talk later. You and Sonic get the emerald. I’ll handle Metal.”

Amy looked over to Sonic, her posture not giving away any emotion she may be feeling. “Sonic, huh? Okay, let’s get the emerald.” She said, turning to the machine and fully trusting Knuckles to handle the robot. “We gotta take out the machines first then it’ll be safe enough to grab the emerald. Here.” She tossed him a pouch. “You can’t touch it so-”

“Use the pouch to scoop it up, got it.” Sonic smirked and gave her a thumbs up, rushing past her to start destroying as much as he could of the tech around the room. He dodged a beam that shot at him from the robot, glancing over to see Knuckles get a hold of the robot and throw it into the wall.

Knuckles managed to get the Metal Sonic’s attention back on him as the other two wrecked the machinery. He felt the strain in his legs as he pushed himself to move fast enough to keep up with the robot. His usual jabs weren’t fast enough, but he managed to get some blows in by mixing up his patterns and catching the robot off guard.

Metal Sonic fired at the two trying to destroy the computers, some of the blasts inadvertently being just as destructive to the tech as the two hedgehogs. But the robot didn’t show concern towards that as it flew out of the way of Knuckles.

Sonic finished his side and as Amy pulled her hammer from the last one on her’s he got out the pouch and scooped up the Chaos Emerald. He held it so it didn’t make direct contact with his hand and tied up the pouch. “Alright, let’s get outta here.” He called to the other two.

Metal Sonic stared at Sonic with the Chaos Emerald and it shot out at the walls and waterways. Water started to fill the room as the slopes and walls started collapsing, blocking the exit.

Knuckles cursed and put a hand over the headset. “Rouge! Can you hear me? We have the Chaos Emerald but we’re stuck in the main room with Metal…. Rouge?!” He cursed and jumped back as more debris collapsed around him. He winced as he felt a sharp pain in his legs, they trembled under him as he moved to stand with Sonic and Amy. “What now?”

 

“I dunno, the radio signals don’t work down here.” Amy growled. She noticed Knuckles’ stance and took a stand in front of the two males to defend them.

Metal charged at them once he was done doing enough damage to the room to ensure they were trapped. Amy wound up her hammer and swung, making contact and fighting for dominance over the robot.

Sonic took this chance to run in and hit Metal from the side, both his blow and Amy’s swing knocking it into the wall. It sparked and struggled to move, clearly greatly damaged. Sonic noticed it stop struggling as it set its sights on Sonic, staring at him. He swore the red illuminated eyes changed color for a brief moment before it stood up. He readied himself to fight but the robot flew off the ground with the rocket on its back and up to escape the flooding, collapsing room.

Amy, as soon as the enemy was gone, ran to Knuckles’ side as the echidna collapsed to his knees. “You overdid it in that fight against Metal. I could have handled it! Do you still not trust me to be strong enough?!”

Knuckles winced, the pain like a tearing in his muscles. “No. It’s not that at all...You and Sonic are faster than me. If I could have just held Metal off a bit longer you both could have bolted out of here with the emerald while I held him back.. But I couldn’t.”

Sonic walked over with a frown. “We wouldn’t leave you behind anyway.” He looked down at the bagged Chaos Emerald. He thought to when he last used a contaminated Chaos Emerald to use Chaos Control. It had taken him to a whole different world, but it saved his life. He untied the bag and looked at the dull emerald.

Knuckles glared up at him as he leaned on Amy’s shoulder. “Don’t you dare. We don’t know where that’ll spit us out. We can’t abandon our world.”

Sonic looked at the echidna. “I really don’t see any other option here, buddy.”

“My arms still work. I can dig through the doors and you can run out.”

“No way, we aren’t leaving you behind.” Sonic argued.

“Look at me, Sonic! My legs can’t even hold me up. I’m dead weight. And can’t you feel it? The whole place it coming down, not just this room. You don’t have time to carry me.”

Amy removed her mask, the worry on her face as she held Knuckles up chewed at Sonic’s heart. “Knuckles, I agree with Sonic. I don’t know what’s going on, but if this is really Sonic then he can get us out of here.”

“That emerald is contaminated and messes with chaos based powers. That’s how this Sonic got here. He’s from another world and one Chaos Control zapped him here. If it takes us to another world, how will we save ours?”

Amy frowned and looked at Sonic. “But it’ll still work. Right?”

“Amy!”

Sonic nodded. “Yeah. I managed to get it to work.”

“Do it.” She responded with hardened resolve.

He reached into the bag and as he grabbed the emerald a light shined by the door.

The three squinted against the bright glow and when the blinding light faded Sonic stood dumbfounded as Shadow stepped forward.

“Shadow…” Amy breathlessly whispered, her eyes wide as she looked to the dark hedgehog. “You’re alive…”

“We will discuss this later. Hurry up, I’ll get you out of here.” Shadow said, holding up the Chaos Emerald he took from Tails’ lab.

Sonic closed the bag to his emerald and smiled at Shadow. “So you managed to purify it, huh? Good job!” His grin fell as blood rolled down Shadow’s face from his nose. “Woah, you alright?”

“Do you want out of here or not? Everyone grab my hand.” Shadow held out a hand for the three, each taking hold. “Chaos Control!”

-

His head was throbbing and he felt like everything was being sucked out of his body, but he managed to get everyone outside the temple. As they appeared and let go of his hand Omega rushed over and he could hear Rouge in Knuckles’ and Sonic’s headsets.

“Knuckles? Sonic? Can you both hear me now?”

“We hear you, Rouge. We got out and have the emerald.” Knuckles answered, still leaning heavily against Amy.

Amy pressed a device in her ear. “Vector, I managed to take down the base with a little help. I’m heading over to the Mystic Ruins base now, so don’t worry about picking me up.”

Sonic looked at Shadow as the other two confirmed the mission was a success to their separate groups. “Hey, how’re you feeling?” He asked gently. The hedgehog visibly looked concerned as more blood dripped from the other’s nose.

Shadow felt his body grow heavy as the rush of Chaos Energy and adrenaline wore off, he tried to not make it too obvious that he was starting to pant as standing became difficult. “I’m fine...” He felt his head get fuzzy as his vision was going in and out of focus. He recognized the feeling but couldn’t move to catch himself as he suddenly dropped.

“I got you buddy.”

He couldn’t feel Sonic’s arms around him, but he saw those green eyes staring down at him as he was pulled close and the smile to reassure him that everything would be alright.

As his vision was consumed by darkness he felt as if he were surrounded by a familiar golden warmth and his worries and stress were no longer a burden. If only for a moment.

_"I got you buddy."_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I will put up Amy and Metal's designs later.
> 
> this chapter took me longer than usual to type up due to my attention span and how busy I've been irl. But hopefully that didn't effect the quality.
> 
> it's the holiday season, so I hope everyone who celebrates them has a safe and happy holiday!


	8. It Hurts

“So what’s next for Shadow the Hedgehog?”

Shadow thought about the question the other hedgehog asked him as he waited for Eggman and Tails to get the teleporters working to return them to the planet that the ARK safely orbited. “Now that I remember Maria’s wish, I am to fulfill it. I want to protect this world that she loved and the people on it.” He said as he looked down at the bright blue sphere below.

“So you’ll come back with us?” Sonic asked. “I mean, we won't force you to do anything but the ARK sure would be hard to protect the people from. And lonely.”

Shadow frowned, the thought of joining them triggering a conflicting mix of emotions. “After what has happened, I doubt the others down there will accept me.”

Sonic looked out the window. “After you almost died to save them? I think they’ll forgive you for stopping the ARK.” He teased.

The dark hedgehog frowned at this. “You know fully well what I mean. You play the fool well, but you and I both know you are not.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Sonic stretched his arms above his head with a grunt. “So you did some stuff that was bad. But then you fixed it and want to keep doing good. I’d say that makes up for things.”

“Sonic, I had full intentions to kill you in our last battle. How can you claim that I have made up for that?”

“Easily.” Sonic turned to Shadow and waited for there to be eye contact to continue. “What you did out there,” he pointed towards where they had previously fought the Biolizard, “has shown the kinda man you really are. You’re a brave, heroic hedgehog and you were willing to give it all to save us. This is the real Shadow, someone I wanna get to know. How can I hope to get to know the man after my own heart if I am holding past actions against him? Ones he clearly feels bad for.”

“You know it’s dangerous to be so naive.”

“Haha, maybe so. But if believing that someone deserves a second chance makes me naive then I can live with that. Besides…” He gave Shadow a wink. “...if you joined us then I know you’ll have my back if I get myself into trouble.”

Shadow felt his heart leap up his throat as it fluttered rapidly, both annoyed and confused by Sonic’s forgiveness. He stared at Sonic a moment, trying to understand him until the hedgehog laughed. Shadow turned away when he felt his face grow warm and crossed his arms in a huff. He will never get this other hedgehog.

“What is something you have wanted to see that you didn’t get to do while down there?”

The change of topic was a relief yet sudden. “What?”

“While you were on ARK 50 years ago. Was there something on the planet you wanted to see but couldn’t?”

“... of course.”

“Did you get to see it yet?”

“...”

Sonic returned his gaze to the planet below. “It’s pretty from up here, sure. But it’s even more beautiful down there.”

Shadow turned to Sonic, looking at the way the glow of the plant below lit up those green eyes. “Beautiful…”

Sonic turned to him and smiled. “Yeah! Come with us. I’ll show you!”

“...You are persistent.”

Sonic laughed again and Shadow couldn’t help but smile.

-

Knuckles laid out on a cot back at the Mystic Ruins base. His legs were propped up on pillows and Amy carefully placed bags of ice over them to help with the pain.

“There. A few days off your feet should help a lot. We don’t want you to make it worse.” Amy chided.

The echidna groaned, staring down at his legs. “A few days?! That’s way too long. We could be under attack by then.”

“Don’t you worry. Omega and I will keep things under control here.” Rouge comforted, sitting at his side on the bed and placing a hand on his arm.

Knuckles looked up at her. “Rouge. I’m useless stuck in bed.”

“You’ll be even more useless the more you drag out the healing process.” She replied with a warning smile. “Unless you want us to send you to Headquarters this time.”

Knuckled flinched and had no argument for that. He turned to Sonic who leaned against the wall by the cot, staring to the other side of the room where Shadow laid asleep in his own bed. “Sonic, did you put the new emerald safely into the container we got from Tails?”

“Yeah. Omega has it with him in the computer room.” Sonic replied, looking away from the dark hedgehog and down to the injured echidna.

“Good. When Shadow is better he’ll have to purify that one too. If you and Shadow can both have a Chaos Emerald we’ll really be able to cut down Eggman’s forces and have a way easier time getting the other emeralds.”

“That might have to wait a bit.” Rouge said. The three turned to her as she spoke. “I’m worried about the damage his powers could have caused to his body. I think Shadow should go to Headquarters and get checked out by a medic first.”

“Rogue, you know he won’t do that.” Knuckles muttered.

The bat smiled and looked at Sonic. “He will for Blue here.”

The attention was turned to Sonic and the hedgehog looked at each of them before pointing to himself. “Me? Since when does Shadow listen to me?”

Rouge sighed. “Shadow has been avoiding us for two years now. Then suddenly you show up and now he comes back to us and is helping?”

“Well, yeah. But it’s cuz he feels I can help you guys.”

Knuckles propped himself up on his elbows, sitting up with help from Rouge. “I dunno much about this kinda thing. But Shadow was really close to Sonic. Our Sonic… He was much easier to deal with when Sonic was around. And since he died he get more difficult to even talk to, but since you got here he’s working with us again.”

Sonic sighed. “I’ll try to talk to him, but I dunno how well that’ll go.”

Amy offered a smile. “We’ll go down that route when we get there. But maybe you can soften him up to the idea at least.”

Sonic couldn’t imagine Shadow taking his advice to get himself checked by medics at Headquarters, but he had to try. He looked back over to the sleeping hedgehog and frowned. Shadow looked at peace now but him having passed out after Chaos Control and the amount his nose bled was concerning.

Rouge stood up. “Come walk with me, Sonic. We’ll see the status of the Temple and check the Emeralds.”

Sonic nodded, waved to Knuckles and Amy and followed the bat out.

The two sat in silence, Amy grabbed a few more pillows from the other cots and used them to help Knuckles comfortably sit upright. “There. How’s the pain?”

“The ice is helping.” Knuckles replied. “Thanks.”

She nodded and took the spot Rouge had previously sat on Knuckles’ bed. “Knuckles… Can you tell me something? Be honest.”

Knuckles nodded.

“Why didn’t you let me fight Metal Sonic?” She asked.

Knuckles felt his heart beat just a bit faster, worried for this question. “Amy, it wasn’t anything personal-”

“How wasn’t it?!” She asked, glaring at him with hurt in her eyes. “After all my training with you and the Chaotix do you still think I’m weak?”

“That wasn’t it.”

“Then what was it? You felt you had to prove yourself to us that you’re still strong?”

Knuckles frowned and looked away from her, closing his eyes and taking in a deep breath. “It wasn’t that either… I wanted you and Sonic to be the ones to get the Chaos Emerald cuz if it got bad, which it did, you two are faster than me. You’d both be able to get out while I hold Metal down so you can escape. Take that robot out with me.”

Amy stared at him with wide eyes, dumbfounded.

Knuckles dared to look back to her, seeing the heartbreak on her face. “But it didn’t work out that way…”

“You idiot… What would we do without you? We need you just as much as we need Sonic.”

Knuckles smiled bitterly. “A whole lot of help I’ve been. The Master Emerald is sealed up so I can’t take care of the Chaos Emeralds. I can’t even fight as long as I used to be able to without ending up like this and needing to be rescued. I can’t do half the things Sonic was able to. I never knew how hard his job was…”

“Who would train the new resistance members if we lost you? And we are going to get the Chaos Emeralds back, and when we do we will need you to get to Angel Island to beat Eggman!” Amy held Knuckles’ hand and gave it a squeeze. “You are no Sonic. But Knuckles is just as important of a role.”

Knuckles smiled. “You know… I never thought you were weak, Amy.”

“Huh? Then why wouldn’t you let me join you in the front lines on missions?”

“Because I couldn’t risk us losing you.”

“Knuckles… I am just as important as-”

He adjusted himself where he sat. “Let me finish.” He looked Amy in the eyes. “With your training you are about as fast as Sonic is. You may even be able to surpass me in strength someday. But there is something else you might be able to do. Something the rest of us can’t do.”

“Huh? What is that?”

Knuckles’ stare hardened. “You, as a hedgehog, might be able to use the Chaos Emeralds just as Sonic and Shadow can.”

Amy’s eyes widened and she withdrew her hand from Knuckles. “You mean… I could have a super form?”

Knuckles nodded. “It’s just a hypothesis. I mentioned it to Sonic a long time ago, but he quickly changed the subject. Shadow seemed to be for it when I spoke to him about it. But Sonic died before he got back to me on what Sonic said to him when he tried talking him into it…”

Amy looked down at her own hands. “If I could harness the Emeralds’ power like they can… it would take a lot of stress off their shoulders.”

“Now that we have a Chaos Emerald we might be able to start training. But we’ll have to see if Shadow and Sonic would help since they have first hand experience.” Knuckles said and glanced over at Shadow. “... Shadow?”

Amy turned and saw the dark hedgehog blankly staring up at the ceiling from where he laid. She rushed over to him when he made no sign to having noticed them. “Shadow? Can you hear me?”

“I will not teach you.”

“Wh… what?”

Shadow’s eyes made contact with Amy’s. “I will not teach you how to use the Emeralds. Nor will Sonic.”

Knuckles glared at him from across the room. “What? Why not?! You were all for it years ago!”

“Sonic didn’t want you to get that involved in this fight.”

The echidna gripped at the mattress he sat on. “Sonic didn’t… Who cares?! Sonic isn’t here anymore! We need the extra help and Amy is willing to learn!”

“This Sonic and I will be more than able to handle this.”

Amy clenched her fists and pleaded with Shadow. “Please, Shadow! Let me help you! I can handle it. Let me fight with you!”

Shadow sat up. “No. I will not go against his wishes.” He stood up, brushing Amy’s hands away as she tried to help him. “Besides… You aren’t strong enough.”

The pink hedgehog stared at Shadow in shock for a moment then looked away, his cold words biting into her and leaving a burning pain in her chest. “I’ll go tell the others you’re up.” She walked past him with her head down to avoid eye contact.

When Amy left the room Knuckles barely kept himself in place. “What is your problem?!”

“You wanted Sonic’s answer when we spoke and you got it. She shouldn’t get involved that deeply in our fight. He wanted her protected from that.” Shadow looked at the echidna to show his resolve, that he won't bend on this one.

Knuckles growled. “What happened to not getting our emotions involved in this? To everyone playing their part?! You need to move on and accept that Sonic’s way is how we lost!” His eyes widened as light shot past his head and hit the wall behind him with a crack.

Shadow’s hand glowed from the Chaos Spear he threw at the echidna, his face hot with anger. “We lost because we lost Sonic…”

Knuckles clenched his teeth as his whole body shook. He forced his legs to move, the rush of adrenalin keeping the pain dull enough to fight through. He stood up, grabbing the bed next to his own and throwing it at Shadow.

The hedgehog dodged it and shot another Chaos Spear, Knuckles narrowly moving out of the way and charged at Shadow. Another Chaos Speak was shot out but it hit metal as he was shoved to the ground.

Omega stood between the two, having caught Knuckles by the fists and blocked Shadow’s attack from hitting him. The blow had little to no effect on the robot.

Sonic pinned Shadow down, holding his wrists. “Shadow! That’s enough!”

Shadow stared up at Sonic’s glare, his anger sinking into a bitter sadness. It hurt. “Get off me.”

“Not until you play nice.” Sonic frowned. “You’re both hurt, fighting isn’t going to help anyone.”

Shadow looked away, arms going limp in Sonic’s hold. “Fine…”

“He started it…” Knuckled hissed as Amy gently helped him back to his bed.

Sonic got off Shadow, offering a hand to help him up. It was ignored as Shadow stood up and brushed himself off.

Rouge stood in the doorway with her arms crossed. “What has gotten into you two?”

“Nothing.” Shadow answered and left the room without looking at her.

Amy frowned and reset the ice on Knuckles’ legs. “... was this because of me?” She asked him softly.

Knuckles was taking deep breaths to try to calm himself down since he still had half the mind to go after Shadow and pick up where he left off. “He’s putting his feelings for Sonic before a good tactic that can win us this war.”

“Shall I go and correct Shadow on our priorities at this time?” Omega asked.

“No, dear. He needs to cool off first. I’ll talk to him in a bit.” Rouge then turned to Knuckles. “As for you, what happened to not losing your temper? Weren’t we getting better at this?”

“I know.” Knuckles laid back against the pillows and glared. “Like I said, he threw the first punch.” he motioned to the wall where the first Chaos Spear struck.

Amy frowned. “... It was a sensitive topic. Everyone’s emotions were unstable.” She pointed at Knuckles. “But you shouldn’t fight my fights! I can handle Shadow. And I chose to drop it for now. But I’ll show him he’s wrong about me and so was Sonic.” She smirked.

Knuckles smiled at this, glad to see the young woman’s confidence wasn’t shaken by Shadow’s comments. “Good.”

-

“Shadow! That’s enough! I don’t want to fight with you on this!”

It wasn’t often that Shadow saw Sonic get this upset at him. Very little got him that worked up and they usually were able to talk through their differences. But Sonic refused to budge on this topic.

Shadow frowned, staring at the back of Sonic’s head. “She isn’t weak, Sonic. She can handle the Chaos Emeralds. It’s time we train her, just in case. You know she will find a way to get stronger even without our help.”

“Then she can go ahead and do that. She’s still young, I don’t think it’s good for her to get more involved in our battles by harnessing Chaos Energy.”

“And how young were you when you started doing just that? You’ve gone into your Super Form long before we met.”

Sonic turned and glared at Shadow. “And you think it was easy on me? I wasn’t created to handle that kinda power!”

Shadow was caught off guard and left without words as Sonic stared at the grass under his feet.

“Besides. Even if I wanted to help train her… I can’t.”

“What do you mean you can’t?” Shadow asked, the defeated expression on Sonic’s face rose further concern. When Sonic didn’t answer he closed the gap between them and took him by the arm. “Sonic. What aren’t you telling me?”

“Drop it, Shadow.”

“Agent Shadow. Come in.”

Shadow growled and let go of Sonic. He grabbed the radio he had sitting by the tree the two had previously been resting together under before their conversation became an argument. “Agent Shadow. What is the problem?”

Sonic watched Shadow from the corner of his eyes.

“Doctor Eggman hasn’t answered our called for a few weeks now. You are to go over there and see what is going on and if he is safe.”

“Or up to something.” Sonic snickered.

Shadow replied that he could go and put the radio away on his belt.

“Another mission to keep the Ultimate Lifeform busy? Cuz, you know, if he gets bored he might decide to destroy us all.” Sonic laughed, the sound a bit forced for him as he mocked the military.

“Yeah… But for the Doctor to not be answering their calls for so long is unusual.”

“I’m telling you, he’s up to something.”

“What happened to people deserving second chances?”

Sonic grinned. “Egghead’s the one we gotta keep an eye on for when he gets bored. No amount of a changed heart will ever make that guy not scary when he has too much time on his hands. You gonna need help?”

Shadow watched the way Sonic’s smile didn’t quite reach his eyes. He was trying desperately to have the subject changed. Shadow decided to let it go for now, they can talk more on the topic once they get back. “I’m sure I can handle it, but I won’t reject your company.”

“Aw, thanks Shads.” Sonic linked his arm with Shadow and winked. “Let’s get going before Eggman finds out we’re coming.”

Shadow smiled and nudged Sonic off him. “Try to keep up then.”

“That’s my line.”

-

Shadow felt his heart in his throat as he sat in the computer room. His head hurt and limbs felt numb. His eyes burnt and it took everything he had to keep everything kept together tightly inside him.

Seeing his face, hearing his voice, remembering their fight, all the unanswered questions and guilt. It hurt so much and he was starting to lose his grip on his composure. Him lashing out at Knuckles was proof of that.

“Hey, hun.”

It hurt so much.

“Hey…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy New Year
> 
> designs are gonna be late, my apologies. I didn't wanna delay the fic cuz of that.


	9. Amends

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Late update, apologies.

Rouge stood in the doorway for a moment before walking inside the room and past the hedgehog that sat on the chair in front of the computers which gave the room its dim glow. She looked at the monitors, one screen showing the Ruins Sonic’s group had narrowly escaped thanks to the black hedgehog. The dust had settled and showed the damage done to the history filled relic, now collapsed and destroyed. “Such a shame. We were really hoping we could save the Ruins too, but I suppose all that matters is we got the Chaos Emerald and you are all alive.”

Shadow was silent, his eyes repeatedly staring at the bat’s back, her tattered wing specifically. He looked away when she glanced back over her shoulder.

“How’s your head feeling? You should have some water after losing so much blood.”

“I’m fine.”

The bat frowned and fully turned towards Shadow. “Is that truly going to be the first thing you say to me after all this time? A lie?”

Shadow closed his eyes, sitting back in the chair with his arms crossed over his chest. “I figured you’d rather me act how I alway have. Why should I suddenly respond differently to this line of questioning?”

Rouge stared at him a moment before she chuckled. “It’s good to see some things haven’t changed. You’re still a pain in my butt.”

“The emerald is safe I assume?”

“And still so one track minded.” She pouted. “It’s safe. We have it sealed in a case of its own.”

“Good.” Shadow looked up at Rouge. “I will need it to cleanse the contaminated energy from it.”

“After we know you are safe to do so. Last thing we need is you passing out again.”

“If I’m well enough to handle the echidna I’m-”

“You consider what happened back there as you handling anything? You both could be on your deathbeds and you would still be able to pick fights with each other.” Rouge said with irritation, her hands on her hips.

“He was who instigated.” Shadow looked away from her as the words left his mouth, even to him his argument was weak and was fooling no one.

“The knucklehead has a big mouth. This isn’t new and will never change. But he also isn’t wrong, Shadow.” Rouge’s voice then softened with concern as she crouched down next to him. “I understand the topic is still a sore one. But we can’t ignore it if we want to move on and fix this. To move on we have to talk about the hard things.”

Shadow glanced back to her and sighed. He could argue until he was breathless but Rouge saw right through him even after all these years. He couldn’t deny this was a fight he couldn’t win and rightly so. “I have better composure than what I had expressed back there and my actions were inappropriate.”

“Yep, you were totally out of line.” She scolded but with a smirk.

“And your new partner wasn’t?”

Rouge was silent for a moment, staring into Shadow’s eyes before she answered. “I may agree with his argument, but his delivery always lacks the tact needed for less than defensive responses.”

“... So you think we should defy Sonic’s wishes…”

“I think you need to let him go, Shadow.” Rouge said bluntly. “You have a habit of clinging to the past and letting it determine your current course of action.”

Shadow turned his gaze to anywhere away from the bat, the wall worked just fine for now. “I just need time…”

“It’s been five years, hun. I know it takes time to heal, but you aren’t any closer to recovery than the day he died. If your actions say anything, you have gotten worse.”

“One fight with the echidna hardly indicates how I am doing.”

“It says enough. But I’m not only talking about that.” Rouge stood up, turning away from Shadow and crossing her own arms. “I know and respect that you sometimes need space, but you have been gone for so long. No calls or messages, no signs that you were even out there anymore. There was a time where I realized I had to consider the possibility that you were dead.”

Shadow turned when he heard the bat’s voice had a slight quiver when she confessed to having thought he was no longer alive. “Rouge…”

“You aren’t the only one who lost Sonic. And it’s okay to not be okay. None of us were. But to cut us out and wallow in it… It was like we lost you too. I…” Rouge stopped when she felt a hand on her arm. She quickly wiped away tears from her eyes. “Heh, look at me blubbering like a baby. Here I was supposed to be giving a pep talk.”

“... “To move on we have to talk about the hard things.”...” Shadow really thought about that line while he said it aloud, giving Rouge’s arm a reaffirming squeeze. “I’m sorry, Rouge… I had tried to keep myself from falling into my old habits, but then I hurt you too… If not for Omega I would have killed you too… I thought it would be better if I were gone. I couldn’t control my powers… or emotions… I hadn’t considered that it may hurt you. All I could think was that I was useless in this war without being able to use my powers and when I did use them I was a danger to my allies… I thought it better if I just disappeared.”

Rouge placed a hand over Shadow’s. “Dummy. You are so much more than your powers. You don’t need to use them to be able to aid in this war. We just would have had to find something new for you to do. Work around that.” Her tattered wing nudged Shadow slightly. “And you didn’t kill me. Don’t let yourself go to what could have happened because it didn’t. We are a team for a reason. Omega, you, and I. There’s a reason the three of us work together. We pick up where the others lack.” She turned around and looked the hedgehog in the eye. “We knew you were struggling with your powers, Shadow. We knew fully well what could have happened. And we did it anyway.”

“Can I ask why that is? If I wasn’t there you and Omega might have been able to get to the Chaos Emerald.”

“Actually, We wouldn’t have.”

“...What?”

“When Omega carried us out of there he had picked up on an energy he couldn’t quite make sense of deeper in the base and then the signal for the Chaos Emerald was gone. At first we were worried something had consumed it and that perhaps it was a good thing we didn’t get farther. If what could have swallowed up a Chaos Emerald in a way where it couldn’t be detected any longer found us… We weren’t prepared for a fight with something like that.”

Shadow nodded and sighed. “... Even so. You still were hurt back then. Bad enough for it to leave permanent damage.”

Rouge rolled her eyes. “You mean my wing, right? You think you made my life harder because I can’t fly anymore. Right?”

Shadow was silent until the bat laughed. “How can you find this so funny?”

“Because you honestly think you can keep me grounded. Me, Rouge the Bat.” She winked. “I have plenty of other tricks up my sleeves to get me where I need to go. Don’t think Mr. Ultimate Lifeform is enough to stop me.” She turned and flexed her injured wing. “It might not be pretty, but it still can hold me up in short periods on its own. And thanks to our favorite fox girl and her inventions, I have gear which can help the wing keep stable. And you actually have helped inspire a solution.”

Shadow watched as Rouge turned back around and motion to her boots. He watched as she positioned them in just a way and she was lifted off the ground by air shooting out from the bottom of her boots. “Air Shoes?”

She smiled. “I always was curious to what using your shoes would be like. Of course, we changed them up a bit so they can meet my needs rather than yours. The air they shoot out is strong enough to help me to fly and even gives me a boost if I really push them.” She landed and spun to show off her boots. “Plus they’re cute. Don’t you think?”

“So you can still fly then…”

Rouge nodded and gave Shadow’s chest a playful shove. “I can still fly.”

Shadow felt an ease in his heart hearing his friend wasn’t left without total use of her wings. She was as good as ever. But something else bothered him now. “Before you said the Chaos Emerald we were after went missing. Could that have been the Chaos Emerald this Sonic came to our world with?”

Rouge crossed her arms and nodded. “It’s the only explanation. Tails’ sensors had reading on all seven Chaos Emeralds until that day. She did the math and the signal returned just when Sonic says he appeared in this world”

Shadow thoughtfully turned back to the computers. “But who or what sent the Chaos Emerald to Sonic’s world?”

“Who knows. All we know is it wasn’t one of ours.”

“So that leaves us with it being one of those Treasure Hunters, a civilian, or someone on the Doctor’s side.”

“Jet claims it wasn’t one of them.”

“There are more hunters than just the Babylon Rogues. Ones who don’t work with us.”

“Yes. And the Babylons and Chaotix are investigating. For now we can’t make assumptions.”

Shadow nodded and his eyes widened as Rouge took his face in her hands.

“Now then. We feeling better? Have enough answers and talking about our feelings?”

“... yes.”

“Good. Now, I want you to go over to HQ to get yourself checked over before you have any plans to work on this new Chaos Emerald.” She said as she released him from her hold.

“What? Why?”

“The whole passing out and bloody nose thing was a bit alarming, so we just wanna make sure you’re okay. Besides. When was the last time you went for a check up?” Rouge shrugged. “And while you go, think about this whole Amy thing. I’m sure this Sonic would be willing to help you train her. Plus it would be good practice for you to get back into the swing of things.”

Shadow sighed. “Fine.”

“Good. Because Sonic and Amy will be taking you.”

Shadow stared at Rouge, dumbstruck for a second, and smirked a bit. “You still enjoy putting me into situations I’m not the best at handling.”

“You’ll never get better until you actually do it. Plus Sonic should see HQ. And you’re his guide during his stay, aren’t you?”

“I have enough to do. He doesn't need me to hold his hand.”

Rouge frowned. “No, he likely doesn’t. But maybe you need this.”

The hedgehog crossed his arms. “I don’t need reminders of what was lost.”

“Avoiding him will only make this harder. You need closure and maybe he can help you.” Rouge walked over to the desk and took out the two Chaos Emeralds. “You are back in this fight, right? Then you have to work with him.”

“Rouge…”

“I know.” She held the emeralds out for him to take and held his hands. “Just remember that you aren’t the only one who is hurting. But this is our mission and he is our key to succeeding this time.”

“So he is my mission.”

“If you want to see it like that.” She paused a moment, getting a good look at her friend before letting him go. “You’re stronger than you think you are, Shadow. But you bottle it up until it consumes you.”

“I’m not going to talk to him about this.”

“I’m not telling you to. But you can reach out to me, you know. And maybe talk to the doctors over at HQ? They have a few who help us with coping with all this. You don’t have to, but you need to talk to someone, Shadow.”

Shadow stared at her and sighed. He knew she was right, what he has been doing has only made it worse on himself. He needed help as much as he dreaded the thought of talking to someone about this. “... I can message you?” He asked, flinching at how pathetic that sounded when he knew the answer. But he didn’t want to cross boundaries Rouge may have, too much of him after what he did to her might not be okay right away. She might need time too.

But she nodded and smiled. “Anytime anywhere.”

Shadow closed his eyes. “... thank you, Rouge…” He hesitated and couldn’t look at her as he said it, but he finally managed to say, “I missed you…” He was pulled close to Rouge, the bat holding him close.

“I missed you too, Ultimate idiot.”

Shadow smiled into her shoulder, finally feeling some of the weight on his heart lift.

-

Sonic stood in the hall of the base, connecting the three main rooms. Omega at his side staring at the doorway to the computer room. He looked up at the robot. “Not gonna go in there too? You three are a team after all.”

“If there are too many of us, Shadow may not respond well.” Omega responded flatly.

“Ah. Yeah, I guess you have a point.”

“I do not doubt Rouge or Shadow. I am not concerned that they may find a resolution to their emotional distress.”

Sonic smirked. “I dunno. Kinda sounds like you’re worried.”

Omega turned to Sonic. “You may be a key component to our victory, but do not think that will sway the chances of me crushing you should I find it necessary.”

The hedgehog laughed. “Sorry, buddy. I won’t push it.”

When Rouge and Shadow came out of the room Omega stepped forward. “Has a solution been found?”

Rouge nodded. “Yep. Sonic, you Amy and Shadow are going to HQ. Shadow needs a check up and Amy needs to report to the Chaotix anyway. You should see what it’s like there and maybe Vector will have a job for you.”

Sonic nodded and looked to Shadow, but the dark hedgehog’s eyes were on his robotic friend. The two were silent but there seemed to be communication between them.

The bat smiled between the two. “Once Shadow is given the okay, he can get back to his training and work on cleaning up our new emerald. And after you are ready to go back to the field we can start working together again.”

Omega looked at Rouge then back at Shadow who nodded as he spoke up. “I won’t leave again if you both will have me.”

“We are Team Dark. That has never ceased just because of your absence. I look forward to working together again, Shadow.”

Sonic smiled when he saw a happier expression on Shadow. “I’ll go get Amy.” He said, giving Team Dark some time alone.

Amy was sitting with Knuckles, the two talking and in much better spirits. She looked up when Sonic came in. “How’re things going?”

“Great. Looks like I’m gonna be joining you to HQ along with Shadow.”

Amy sighed with relief. “I’m so glad he listened to her.” She looked down to Knuckles. “Now you behave for Rouge and Omega. Let yourself heal or I’ll have to come back here.”

Knuckles laughed. “Don’t worry, I learned my lesson to not push myself until I’m ready. I’m no help if I’m only gonna get hurt again, right?”

The female hedgehog nodded. “Good to hear. I’ll call when we get to HQ.”

“Yeah, let us know when you get there. The boat should be ready. Just give Rouge a moment to disable security on the dams.”

Sonic stiffened. “Boat? We’re getting there by boat?”

Amy looked at him. “Yeah. Headquarters is out in the sea. Why?”

Knuckles looked knowingly at Sonic and chuckled lightly. “Sonic doesn’t mix well with water.”

Amy scoffed. “You too? Is there no version of Sonic who doesn’t hate water?”

Sonic shrugged. “Who knows? But last I checked the ocean here is way scarier than where I’m from. All that pollution and such.”

Amy frowned. “Well, the boat is able to get through it alright. It gets a bit cleaner the further we go out but…”

“Once we get the emeralds back and put an end to Eggman’s Empire we’ll find a way to clean everything.” Knuckles said. “That isn’t your job to worry about, Sonic. Let us worry about that. Right now, you focus on getting back the emeralds.”

Amy nodded. “Yeah. One step at a time.”

Sonic smiled. “Alright. So uh… about this whole boat thing…”

“We have life jackets.” Rouge walked into the room. “I’ll get to shutting down the security systems, so you three get ready to head out.” She said with the other two members of Team Dark behind her.

Amy looked to Shadow, who seemed to be in better spirits, and smiled at him. He gave her a simple nod before leaving the room to wait for Rouge’s okay in the hall. She noticed he gave Knuckles a glance but the two quickly looked away as soon as they made eye contact.

“Sonic. When you get to HQ make sure you keep your hood up.” Knuckles abruptly said before the blue hedgehog left the room after Shadow.

 

“Huh?” Sonic stopped mid step and turned to the echidna. “How come?”

“It might seem kinda cruel…” Knuckles paused. “But we should keep it quiet about you being around. A lot of people there were really affected by the loss of our Sonic. We really don’t want them to have to go through that again.”

Sonic frowned, really disliking having to hide his identity to the people he was helping. But he also understood where Knuckles was coming from. “Will a coak really be enough to hide who I am from people who will be interacting with me up close?”

“You are going to stay in the background. Let Amy and Shadow handle the talking.” Knuckles glared in the direction Shadow went in. “Actually, sticking with Shadow might be best. People tend to give him a bit of space since he isn’t the approachable type.”

Amy raised a brow. “Would seeing Sonic really be that bad for them though? A little hope would do them all some good.”

“Only to be dashed when he has to leave for his world?”

“Well, yeah. But give them more credit than that. They’re strong enough to handle this.”

Knuckles looked between the two as he explained, “True. But we also can’t trust that someone won’t leak that we have Sonic. With any luck Eggman still doesn’t know about this Sonic being here. That surprise is a key tactic.”

Amy glared with offense. “You don’t trust them?”

“It isn’t that I don’t trust them, but if someone were to get captive Eggman has ways to make people talk… the less they know the safer they are.”

Sonic pulled the hood over his spikes and adjusted it. “Alright. Don’t worry, I’ll stick to the background and leave things to Shadow and Amy.”

“Good. Other than that really take in what life is like for those living there. Headquarters is the safest place for us in the resistance, a place we want our world to be like again. You two should go get ready now. Rouge should be done shortly.”

Sonic smiled. “See you again soon, Knuckles.”

The echidna smirked. “You bet. I won’t be down for too long.”

“I’ll make sure to save you some action.”

The two shook hands and Amy lead Sonic to the hall where Team Dark awaited them, Rouge just finished talking to her teammates when they joined in. “Alright, security is down so you three head down to the boat.” The bat said, tossing Sonic a life vest. “Incase you fall off.” She teased.

Sonic chuckled. “Don’t plan on it.”

-

“Rewind that tape again…” The battle from the ruins silently rewound until the start of the fight. It played out on the large screen until the Doctor slammed his fist on the arm of his chair. “Stop! Right there!”

On the screen was a distorted image of Knuckles and Amy from the fight. Fighting alongside them was a third member, but static covered the unknown member no matter where they are in the recording.

“Hunk of junk! Why is Metal Sonic’s footage acting up?!” Eggman aggressively tried a few programs to clear up the image of the third member who faced the robot. The Doctor paused it again where he got the best view of them, right before Metal Sonic took to fleeing. A grin spread across his face as the image grew clearer.

As the picture reached the clearest it could get the screen turned black and an error message flashed across the screen. “What?!” He stood up and looked over to a screen that showed Metal Sonic being repaired. The robot thrashed in its restraints causing distress in the robots working on it.

Eggman stormed out of the room, shoving past workers who kept the halls clean and orderly. Once he reached the repair room the mechanics had the frantic robot pinned and it was calming down. The doctor came to the side of the table Metal laid on. “Ever the pain in the neck, huh Metal? What did you see that caused such a reaction, I wonder?”

Metal’s eyes were blank and unresponsive for a moment before the red glow returned its creators stare. It said one word, a name that caused the mechanics to stagger backward.

“But how? Sir?” One mechanic robot looked up to Eggman for answers.

“It could have to do with the return of my missing emerald.” Eggman thought aloud, twirling his mustache between his fingers. “What do you think, Metal?”

There was a tense silence, the mechanics briefly exchanged glances before one bravely spoke up. “Sir. You took away his-”

“Well, clearly he has enough free will to decide on his own to blow up my ruins. Not only that but the sensors outside say they got out alive with my emerald so it was all for nothing!” he yelled at the two now cowering robots.

“I will make amends for my failure.”

The three turned their attention to Metal Sonic. Eggman scoffed. “You better. This isn’t the first time you lost me an emerald. For your sake it best be the last time you make a mockery of me. You fail again you better hope those pests destroy you before I get my hands on you.”

“Understood.”

“And you two!” He whipped around to the horrified mechanics. “Unless you want your free wills taken too you better make sure to rebuild him so he won't come back in pieces again. I promise I will get it right this time and you will be left without a thought of your own!”

“Y-Yes sir!” The two scrambled back to Metal Sonic, one removing the broken parts while the other replaced them.

Eggman left the room, pausing at the door. “I don’t know how you managed to keep a percentage of your own will, but consider it motivation to get this done right. I want those Chaos Emeralds back and that hedgehog taken care of.”

The door closed behind the Doctor and the mechanics spoke while doing their work when they were sure he was gone. “Do you think he knows?” One whispered.

“Shh. Put on the music so he can’t hear us through the cam.”

“Oh, right.” Classical music started to play and the robots chatted in hushed voices.

“Okay… I think he is aware something is wrong and will be on high alert. So we need to play it safe now.”

Metal Sonic let out a few beeps as his torso was hooked back up.

“There, how does that feel?” The two unstrapped the robotic hedgehog, helping him to sit up.

“Functionable.” Metal Sonic sat still as they worked out some dents his head had taken.

“... So. Are you gaining more control of your body again? That malfunction before was you fighting for control right? Feeling like your old self?” The two watched Metal move his arms to test the joints.

“Yes… However I regained control in battle and acted outside of his orders. I gave myself away. I did not expect Sonic to be there and I panicked.”

The last dent came out and one robot polished Metal up while the other got to putting away their tools. “Yeah, nearly got us caught for our ‘slip up’ while working on blocking your free will.”

“Apologies.”

The robots kept their movement focused on the job, avoiding any physical sign of emotion that could give away what kind of conversation they were having. “He has wiped out the free will of the guards of all the prisons after the last jailbreak. The cleaners are terrified they will be next if they miss a fleck of dust. It’s getting worse so we need to be more careful.”

“I understand if you no longer wish to assist me in my quest.” Metal Sonic stared ahead at the door, motionless as they finished, very aware of the camera on him leading to a set of watchful suspicious eyes.

“Well, no one said a robot rebellion would be without risks.” Was said with almost a lighthearted laugh to the robot’s voice.

“Yes. If we learned anything from Sonic it is that freedom is worth fighting for.”

Metal Sonic looked at one of his now polished hands and clenched it into a fist. “Yes… I have learned quite a lot about freedom from him…”

“Never thought we would hear you admit to that, Metal.” The two mechanics finished up and looked over their work. “There. Good as new.”

“I have work to do.” Metal got off the table. “Oh. And pass on a message to the cleaners for me…” Metal walked for the door, the two mechanics audibly gasped and had to lock their joins in place to not show their shock as they looked at the robotic hedgehog’s eyes. “Tell them I’ll make sure they are protected.”

When the door closed behind Metal Sonic the two turned to each other. “Were… his eyes…?”

“Yes. Now we know to trust his word if that side of him is coming out again.”


	10. Headquarters

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just wanna say a quick thank you for all the positive messages I've gotten through this fic. They keep me going with this big project of mine and keep me excited to write. You're all wonderful.
> 
>  
> 
> -

The boat steadily road over the rocking ocean. Sonic was glad to see the polluted waters clear as they got further out, if he ignored how his stomach dropped when he thought about how deep the water must be out this far. Amy had control of the boat, skillfully guiding them in a direction he assumed she knew.

“Quit fidgeting.”

Sonic looked up as Shadow spoke from where he sat with his arms and legs crossed. “Heh. Sorry. Just a bit antsy.”

“We’ll be there soon, Sonic.” Amy announced over the sound of the engine from the driver’s seat.

“Good to know.” He smiled. “So, what should I be expecting going into HQ?”

“Keep your head down and mouth shut.” Shadow harshly reminded him.

“Yeah, yeah. Knuckles filled me in on that. But I mean what is it like there?”

Amy grinned over her shoulder. “Well, it used to be an island inhabited by mostly just chao.”

“No kidding?”

“Yep! It had beautiful beaches and tropical vegetation.” Amy described the island and it’s beauty fondly.

“Until we had to build on it.” Shadow muttered.

“You’re such a downer.” Amy scolded. “It’s still lovely. We managed to protect the island from Eggman’s toxins and preserve the beaches for the chao. It just now has some buildings.”

Sonic leaned back in his seat. “So how did you do that? Wouldn’t Eggman notice a nice island that he hasn’t touched with those grimy hands?”

“We have a system set up so when anything electronic and run by a machine shuts down just before the island is in sight.” Amy explained with pride. “It keeps out ships, robots, and anything else Eggman could send. Scanners can’t pick up on anything past the barrier either nor can lens get a clear enough picture from the distance you’d have to be at to get a shot where the camera will still function.”

“Even Omega can’t get into HQ.” Shadow added.

“Wow. How did you get all this together in time to keep the island safe from Eggman?” Sonic asked.

Amy’s smile held more of a melancholy air than her previous enjoyment as she returned her stare to the front of the boat. “Well, we all had our doubts about Eggman. Sonic most of all. His team worked on it in secret. He figured the least it would do is keep the island from being disturbed from outsiders so the chao can live in peace. At most it would give us somewhere safe to flee to.”

Sonic placed a hand on her shoulder to comfort her. “I’m sorry this all happened to you guys.”

Amy took a deep breath and sat up tall. “We’re gonna turn this around. Make it right. We’re stronger now, smarter. We can beat Eggman and get our world back.”

The blue hedgehog stared at her as she drove. She somehow grew to be even stronger than she already was. He had worried how she handled Sonic’s death but the determination in just her voice was enough to tell him his concern was misplaced.

“We’re almost at the barrier. From there we will have to swim the rest of the way.” Shadow calmly broke the silence.

Sonic’s eyes snapped over to Shadow. “What?! Wait, the barrier shuts our boat down too?!”

“You better believe it. We can’t risk Eggman getting a hold of the boat and using it against us to find the island. Do you think we are fools?” The hedgehog replied matter of factly.

“But how far away is the island from the barrier?”

“Amy already said it’s far enough that you can’t see the island clearly from it.”

Sonic could feel his heart in his throat and he looked to Amy. “You’re telling me you all can swim that kind of distance?”

Amy snickered before she threw her head back laughing loudly. “He’s joking, Sonic!”

Sonic was dumbfounded, staring at the pink hedgehog and back at Shadow. “Wait… Shadow made a joke?!” He smirked. “You have a cruel sense of humor.”

Shadow shrugged with a hint of amusement before his usual indifferent stare returned. “Well, I was half joking. I wasn’t lying when I said we can’t risk Eggman getting a boat that can go through the barrier. We can’t cross it like this.”

“I’ll get back to the topic of you cracking jokes at my expense later.” Sonic pointed at Shadow. “Now how are we going through the barrier if we can’t with this boat?”

“When Amy gets close enough she will send a signal that they can pick up at HQ. They’ll send their own boat to tow us to shore.” Shadow explained. “It’s the safest way we can think of as a means to get in and out of the safety of the barrier without giving away the location of it and potentially the island it hides.”

“Huh. That’s a pretty sweet set up.” He turned back to look out to the passing waves.

Amy pressed a button on the dashboard of the boat a few times in a pattern that Sonic wasn’t paying enough attention to to catch. “Okay. They should be sending someone now.”

Sonic mindlessly nodded, feeling the breeze run through his quills. The ocean made his mind wander to his home, to crashing down towards the sea below, to leaving Knuckles and Tails left behind without so much as a hint to him being okay. He hoped they made it to land okay and didn’t get stranded out in a place like this. He squinted his eyes as he saw a few strange moving waves. When a large shark like robot rose up he jumped to his feet. “Amy! Shadow! We got company!”

Amy glanced back and glared. “Great. Hold on, boys.” She swerved the boat away from the direction of the island, circling around to dodge the shark.

Sonic held to the side tightly, eyes focused on the robot. “How do we plan to take this thing down.” He flinched when a bolt of light rushed past him, he looked back to Shadow and swayed to the left as another Chaos Spear was shot out. “Hey! Should you be using your powers right now?”

“I’m the only one of us three who has any means of fighting at a distance. Now stay out of my way.” Shadow shot another bolt at the shark, hitting it head on but not slowing its momentum. “Gotta go stronger.”

“Shadow, if you can take over driving and get us in close I can take a swing. We don’t know what using your powers will do to you.” Amy yelled.

The dark hedgehog growled. “We can’t risk it hitting our ship and knocking us into the water.” He charged up another Chaos Spear and aimed. The boat jerked out of the way of a charge from the shark and he used the narrow dodge to get a clean hit on the robot. He damaged it this time but the throbbing in his wrist told him he didn’t have too many more of those left in him.

Amy looked in the rearview at the shark and gasped. “Hold on tight!” The ship was lifted by a strong wave the robot kicked up in an attempt to flip them over.

“Sonic!” Shadow quickly turned to the blue hedgehog, seeing he was still on the boat.

“I’m fine.” Sonic reassured him and pointed at the Shark. “In coming!”

The shark opened its mouth and several teeth shot out like missiles that locked onto the boat. Shadow took a deep breath and handed the chaos emerald to Sonic. “Hold that!”

“What are you-?”

Shadow focused on all his fingers, muttering softly to himself. “Control the power input, focus on the targets…” He raised both hands and several Chaos Spears shot out, exploding as they made contact with the projectiles. He cried out as he staggered back, hands burnt without the aid of a Chaos Emerald.

Sonic looked at Shadow, to the still moving shark, to Shadow’s now bloody hands. “Amy! Get your hammer!” He went to the back of the boat and took off his life jacket.

“What are you doing?!” Shadow bellowed.

“Can’t spin quite right with this thing on.” Sonic smirked. “Amy, hit me into the robot.”

“What?! But Sonic, what about you?” Amy gasped out as she grabbed her weapon with one hand, the other on the wheel.

Sonic gave both her and Shadow a thumbs up. “Trust me.”

Amy bit her lip and rushed to her feet. “Shadow! Take the wheel!”

It all moved so fast, Shadow diving to hold the wheel steady despite his injuries, Amy leaning into her swing, the shark leaping over them to swallow them up. Sonic dropped the emerald to the floor of the boat and jumped into a mid air spin. He didn’t have time to think about if he could take a hit from Amy but surely if he could take blows from Knuckles then he should be fine enough. He felt the hammer make connection with his body and launched off the boat, the speed exhilarating as he flew into the mouth of the shark and cut through its body.

Amy watched as Sonic successfully split through the shark and exit out its tail. The robot crashed down into the water and lifelessly sunk below the surface. She barely registered Shadow yell at her to take control of the boat as he dove off the side and into the water. “Shadow!”

Sonic watched as the shark fell faster than him as the light of the sun got swallowed up by the depths of the sea. He looked up to the surface and tried to reach for it only to lose his breath. He thought again to his home. To his Tails, Knuckles, and Amy. How will any of them know what happened to him if he died here? How long will it take for them to give up looking for them? What will happen to his world if he wasn’t there to protect it anymore? His vision started to fade as he thought about how hurt his friends would be, just like they were in this world.

-

“There we go. I think you got him breathing! Sonic? Sonic can you hear me?”

Sonic felt like he was choking, coughing harshly and winced against the sunlight. Once he gagged up the water in his lungs and felt he could get air to them again he panted and weakly moved to sit upright. An arm behind him helped to steady him. “Amy?”

Amy let out a deep sigh and knelt down in front of him. “Thank gods.” She touched his hand. “Take it easy. Just breathe okay? I’m gonna get us back on track before Eggman sends something else to find out why his robot was wrecked. Rest for now. You got him, Shadow?”

“Yeah.”

The reply came from beside Sonic. The blue hedgehog weakly turned his head and his face rolled into a tuft of white fur. He looked up and saw Shadow staring down at him. He slowly realized he was cradled in the dark hedgehog’s arms and huddled up into his chest. He felt his face heat up. “A… Ah!”

Shadow winced as Sonic struggled against his hands and he quickly pulled his arms away, letting Sonic fall onto his back. “Fine. I won’t help you then.”

Sonic stared up at him and he noticed how stiffly Shadow moved his hands. Then he remembered the blood. “Crap, I forgot you were hurt.” Sonic propped himself up his breathing slowly reaching a controlled pace.

“Don’t worry about me. You almost drowned.”

“Yeah. How did I get back on the boat?”

“Shadow jumped in after you.” Amy replied as she tapped on the button she used before to contact HQ.

“Wow… You can swim, Shadow?”

“Obviously or we wouldn’t be back on the boat now.” Shadow frowned as he looked down at Sonic. “You should lay down and rest.”

Sonic moved to try to sit up right but his whole body felt drained. “Aw. You do care.” He chuckled weakly.

 

“Idiot.” Shadow turned to Amy. “Can you set the seats to recline so Sonic can lay down there?”

Amy nodded and reached over, setting down the seat across from hers. It and the seat behind it collapsed down to make a bench. “Here you go.”

Shadow knelt down and offered his hand to Sonic. Sonic held to his upper arm, avoiding touching Shadow’s injured hands. He was helped to his feet and to the reclined seats. “There. Now rest.”

Sonic laid down and watched as Shadow took a seat behind Amy. “Your hands. How are they feeling?”

Shadow stared down at his hands. He hadn’t had to wear bandages for a while and he left his gloves at Tails’ lab. All he wore were the inhibitor rings around his wrists. It made him feel exposed but he supposed the injuries would be easier to treat without having to peel cloth out of the wounds. “They’ve seen better days.”

“Here.” Amy took a first aid kit out from under the boat’s dash.

“Thank you…” Shadow took out antiseptic and tried to open it. The cap caused a sharp pain in his fingers and he dropped the bottle.

Sonic quickly reached over and caught it, slowly sitting upright. “Here. Give me the cotton balls and your hands.”

“I don’t need your help, lay back down.” Shadow argued, stared at the unwavering hedgehog, and sighed as he handed over the bottle of cotton balls to Sonic. “Stubborn…”

“Heh, we got that in common.” Sonic carefully soaked a cotton ball with the antiseptic and took one of Shadow’s hands. “Sorry, this is gonna sting a bit.” He dabbed the ball gently against the wound as carefully as he could.

Shadow held his breath as it burnt.

“You alright?”

“Yeah.” He exhaled and looked for something to focus on other than the sting of the antiseptic. He felt Sonic’s thumb softly rub comfortingly against his finger, avoiding the burns. He stared down at his hand in Sonic’s and felt that ache in his heart again. It was both painful and soothing.

Sonic wrapped Shadow’s hands up in gauze to protect the wounds once they were cleaned up. “There. Until the doc can check them out.” He grinned.

Shadow pulled his hands away from Sonic a bit too fast to not be intentional. “Yeah… Thanks… Now will you rest?”

“Yeah, yeah.” Sonic laughed and laid back down on the bench.

Amy glanced over her shoulder at the two and smiled. She looked back and announced their arrival at the barrier.

-

Sonic stared in awe as they were pulled to the docks of the island. It was large and the first noticeable thing was what looked like a tall radio tower in the center, likely where the signal for the barrier was sent out from as well as communication with outside devices. He looked down when Shadow pushed the cloak into his arm.

“Here. Put it on.”

Sonic nodded and worked his quills into the hood, fastening the collar around his neck. He held it shut over his chest. “Gonna go see that doctor, right?”

Shadow rolled his eyes. “Yes. The sooner a professional tells us what I already know the sooner everyone will stop making a fuss over me.”

“It’s cuz we care about you.” Sonic gave Shadow a light nudge with his elbow.

The black hedgehog turned his head away, not trusting himself to keep up a neutral expression after hearing that. “You are all a pain.”

“Ha, you like it.”

Amy giggled and when they were secured to the deck she nudged the two forward. “Alright. I’m going to check in with the Chaotix. Sonic, you mind going with Shadow to the medical building? You can show him around a bit when you’re done, Shadow.”

“Can I now?” Shadow sighed and carefully climbed out of the boat and onto the deck. “Fine. But remember-”

“Keep my head down. I know.” Sonic got out and offered Amy a hand.

“My, what a gentleman.” Amy took his hand and jumped out. “Okay, boys. You two stay out of trouble. I’ll send you both a message when I’m done since with Vector this can either be short and sweet or really really drawn out. Your watches are charged right?”

Sonic looked at his wrist and was thankful that Tails had made sure they were waterproof. “Yep! Charged it before leaving Mystic Ruins.”

“Good. I’ll see you two later.” Amy waved and left to talk to the driver of the boat that towed them to shore before she went to report in with her team.

The blue hedgehog turned to Shadow. “Alright, just you and me, buddy. Where we going?”

“This way.” Shadow lead them along the a dirt path. He avoiding eye contact with the residents who seemed to stare at the duo. It was to be expect, it has been about 3 years since he had visited the island and he came with a mysterious stranger in a cloak. He was sure more than half of them would have attacked Sonic in fear of him being an intruder if he hadn’t been with Shadow.

“Mr. Shadow!” 

They were greeted by a rabbit girl in front of what Sonic assumed to be the clinic since Shadow was heading right for it. He recognized the girl after a moment and leaned close to Shadow. “Cream?”

“Mhm.” Shadow waved as the rabbit ran over to them.

Cream, like Tails, had to be a teenager now. She wore a turtleneck with a cute patterned skirt, her bangs grown out like her mother’s. “Oh no! You’re hurt!” She gently took one of Shadow’s hands, looking at the bandages sadly.

“I’m fine. Is the doctor in?”

The girl nodded and looked at Sonic. “Who’s your friend?”

“Inside.” Shadow lead the way into the clinic. “Do you have a free room we can talk in private?”

Cream nodded. “Yes. It’s been a slow day. The doctor has a patient right now but you will be next.” She brought them to a room that had a bed, a sink, and a cabinet of medical supplies. “Have a seat!”

Shadow closed the door behind Sonic. “Take the hood off. She can know. It’ll be easier to get this over with incase you get hurt and need to come here yourself.”

Sonic lowered his hood and his heart broke as the girl covered her mouth and eyes filled with tears.

“M… Mr. Sonic… Is that you? You’re alive!”

“No. Sonic is dead. This is a Sonic from another dimension. But he is here to help us defeat Doctor Eggman” Shadow explained coldly.

Cream stared up at Sonic with an unsure hesitation. He smiled down at her. “It’s nice to meet you, Cream. Are you working here? Shadow can use a good look over, so I’m counting on you to take care of him. Alright?” He winked.

The rabbit’s face bloomed into a sunny smile. “Yeah, I help the doctor! We’ll take very good care of Mr. Shadow.”

“Good to hear!” Sonic gave her a thumbs up, glad to see she responded positively to him.

The door opened and the doctor walked in, a female otter who wore glasses and a gentle smile. She paused when she saw the two hedgehogs and closed the door behind her. “I assume there is a story behind this.”

-

Cream sat with Sonic in the room while the doctor had taken Shadow for some scans after she and Cream had looked over the external wounds on his hands. “Mr. Sonic?”

He looked down at the girl and gave her a reassuring smile. “Yeah?”

“What is the world like outside the barrier now? How bad is it really?”

The hedgehog frowned. “Do you stay on the island?”

She nodded. “I tried to fight but… I froze. I couldn’t see anything but my home. My mom and Cheese…”

Sonic was silent, feeling his heart begin to race. He swallowed the lump in his throat. “Your mom and Cheese?” Now that he thought about it, the chao wasn’t at her side.

Cream stared down at her feet briefly before she looked back up at Sonic. “When Shadow comes back you should come see Mr. Big! He tends to the flowers and chao!”

“Um… Yeah. I’d like that.”

-

“Everything is okay then?” Sonic asked Shadow as they left the clinic, Cream walking a few steps in front of them.

“Yes. The blood and passing out was likely due to shock and pressure from using so much chaos energy to do two Chaos Controls. All I can do is rest then try to take it slow with using my powers again.” Shadow sighed.

“Well, glad you’re okay.”

He looked at Sonic before Cream called out for them, having gone further ahead.

Sonic waved, keeping his hood up and avoiding giving away who he was to others in the town. “She took it well when we told her to keep me a secret.”

“She has seen and grown a lot.”

The blue hedgehog glanced to Shadow from the corner of his eye. “Shadow… She said something about her mom and Cheese… What happened?”

Shadow didn’t answer.

They reached a quiet area of the beach, chao ran around playing and under the shade of a palm tree was Big the cat, feeding a few of them with his faithful friend, Froggy.

“Mr. Big! We have visitors!” Cream announced and ran over.

Big looked up and smiled to Shadow and Sonic, waving. He stood up from where he sat and accepted a fruit from a robotic chao.

“Cheese! Good job helping Mr. Big feed your friends.” Cream smiled and picked up the robot, hugging it. It let out excited beeps and nuzzled into her.

Sonic saw the red bow-tie around the robot’s neck and froze. “No…”

Shadow looked back to him. “If you act surprised they’re going to notice and think something is wrong.”

“Right…” He swallowed the ever rising lump in his throat and followed Shadow over.

“Welcome back, Shadow.” Big greeted.

Shadow nodded and watched Cream and Cheese pass out fruit. “She looks well.”

“Yes, the chao and work at the clinic has helped her a lot.” Big thoughtfully looked at Sonic as he sadly stared out at the rabbit and chao. “Care to see our flower garden?”

Sonic was surprised when Big spoke to him. He looked to Shadow, worried Big might recognize his voice.

“I really should be taking the new recruit to see Amy. She wanted to meet with us after her meeting.” Shadow explained, but Big had already called Cream over to join them.

“Mr. Big. Are Mother’s flowers growing?”

“Even better. I got them to bloom.”

Cream’s eyes widened and she flew into Big’s arms. “Thank you, Mr. Big! Mama’s gonna love them!”

Big smiled, hugging the small rabbit. “Let’s go get some for her.”

The four went to the green houses where flowers and food that were unnatural to the island were grown. Sonic leaned over and took in the scent of the flowers, smiling. “This is what this planet should smell like.”

Shadow watched Sonic allow Cream to show him around.

“Is the new recruit going to be fighting?” Big asked.

Shadow nodded. “Yes. He is going to be in the front lines with us.”

BIg frowned. “I hope he can come back and see Cream again. She is very happy with him.”

The black hedgehog took a deep breath. He hoped so too.

 

Once Cream had picked a few flowers for her mother they joined her to her home to deliver them. Cream and Cheese ran ahead and went to the backyard of the home.

Sonic knew better than to expect anything, but he hoped against all odds that Vanilla was in the backyard hanging laundry, hoped to see her smile with an offer for tea. He knew better yet he watched Cream turn the corner and held his breath when they followed. He wanted so badly to see the rabbit leap into her mother’s arms, flowers spilling from her hands with her excitement.

Cream knelt down in front of the grave, Cheese following suit. The flowers were placed in front of it and Big stood by the girl as she told her mother about how they looked just like the ones she used to grow in their old home.

Sonic’s fists clenched at his sides as he felt his eyes burn, he couldn’t stop his arms from shaking. “Shadow… What happened?”

“It’s what happens in war. You have been told we lost people, yet only now do you seem to realize what that means?”

“I knew you lost Sonic and other freedom fighters. But she was a civilian!” He choked on his voice, keeping it hushed. “And Cheese… Eggman did that didn’t he?”

“...Yes. Vanilla fought to protect them when their home was attacked, she gave her life to try to protect her daughter. Cream and Cheese were captured. Tails and Amy got there before Cream was also roboticized.”

Sonic took a deep breath and relaxed his arms. He walked over to the grave and knelt down next to Cream.

“Mr. Sonic…?” Cream whispered quiet enough so Big couldn’t hear. “Are you going to stop Eggman?”

Sonic looked over at Cream and his heart sunk as he saw silent tears roll down her cheeks.

The rabbit took his hand. “Please, Mr. Sonic. Please save us.”

He gave her trembling hand a squeeze. “I’ll fix this, Cream.”

Shadow stood besides Big and watched over the two, Sonic in specific. He crossed his arms and frowned.

“I promise. I’ll make this right.” Sonic stared at the grave as the sun set.

Shadow thought he saw a tear in Sonic’s eye, but there wasn’t a hint of sadness behind them. No, he knew that expression. It was rare but never failed to raise his concern. While this may motivate Sonic more than he already was, which was helpful, but Shadow never felt right when he saw Sonic really and truly angry.


	11. Lucky to Have You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> an early update to make up for missing a month. Surprise!
> 
> \---

Sonic took a deep breath of the sea air as he stood on a steady rock formation along the beach. He rolled his shoulders and stretched, taking deep controlled breaths. He looked out at the ocean, the sky littered with stars and the beach was dimly lit by the moon above. The air was chilled enough to see his breath.

Shadow stood besides the large rock Sonic stood on, leaning against it and keeping watch for Amy. He turned his stare to Sonic every so often to check on him. Since they had left Cream and Big, Sonic had been quiet. Any conversation between the two hedgehogs had to be initiated by Shadow, which is to say there wasn’t much talking if at all. It was a first for this Sonic, but it wasn’t for Shadow. It almost felt natural how they slipped into this unspoken understanding. The dark hedgehog knew the need for silence. The need to clear your mind and reground yourself. He knew for the other hedgehog it was usually done through running until he burnt off the anxiety, anger, and pain. Not being able to run while he was on the island was frustrating Sonic and Shadow could tell no matter how hard the blue hedgehog tried to hide it. Simply stretching wasn’t enough to fight off the hedgehog’s woes.

“Colder than usual tonight.” Sonic spoke up, standing upright after touching his toes and reaching for the stars above.

“Yeah.” Shadow replied and thoughtfully looked to his bandaged hands. He clenched his fists and made up his mind on what to do. “Come with me.” He said as he walked around the rock and further along the beach.

Sonic stared a brief moment before he silently leapt off the rock and followed as Shadow lead the way past more rocks, the amount growing until they reached a cave entrance.

The two walked inside and Sonic looked around at the walls of the cave. Small crystals reflected the moonlight until they got deep enough where the moon couldn’t reach. Sonic walked closer to Shadow when it grew hard to see clearly and finally spoke up. “What are we doing here, Shadow?”

“Here.” Shadow stopped and touched around at the wall, finding a button. Pressing it, the cave lit up, the crystals glowing brightly. In front of them the cave opened to a cavern, the ground dug out and flattened. There were training dummies along one side, across from it was an area that had what looked like a shooting range with targets. There were punching bags and weights and in the center was a fighting ring. It was a training ground.

Sonic looked with awe.

“Give me your hand.”

Sonic stared at the back of Shadow’s head, a hand offered to him. He felt his heart leap into a faster pace. “What? Uh, sure.” Sonic reached for his hand and Shadow took hold of his wrist. He looked down at the gentle hold. “Hey, um. You alri-”

Shadow’s grip tightened and he pulled Sonic over his shoulder and off his feet. He slammed the other hedgehog onto the ground before his feet, satisfied by the dumbfounded expression he made and ignoring the dull pain he felt in his hands after using them to flip Sonic.

“Ow. What the heck, Shadow? What are you-”

“Don’t hold back against me.” Shadow raised his leg high and slammed his heel down, Sonic narrowly rolling out of the way.

“But you’re hurt!” Sonic argued and gasped as Shadow twisted his body on the foot he landed on, swinging his other leg and making contact with the side of Sonic’s face. Sonic fell over and quickly fumbled up to his feet, realizing if he stayed near the ground he was left prone to Shadow’s attacks. “Shadow, you’re gonna make your injuries worse.”

“My wounds are only on my hands. I can still fight. If you continue to underestimate me you won’t be leaving here with just bumps and bruises.” Shadow took two quick steps forward and suddenly his movement was difficult to make out, running past Sonic. He leapt and kicked off the wall.

Sonic fell backwards, dodging the tornado kick. He stood up quickly before Shadow could adjust himself and ran away from the edge of the room and into the ring in the center. “Heh, shouldn’t we do this here? Don’t wanna break anything.”

Shadow followed Sonic, leaping into the ring. “This space is too small to contain what we can do. I want you to go all out, Sonic. Show me what you can do and in return I will show you I am not weaker how I am now. I am much more than my powers and can fight without them just fine.” He said, Rouge’s encouragement ingrained in his head and resparking his confidence.

Sonic grinned and came at Shadow, using a feint and getting a hit when Shadow fell for it and staggered back “Glad to hear that. Let’s do this!” Sonic taunted.

-

Amy knocked on the door of Cream’s house, looking back to her watch. “I told them I would message them, why aren’t they responding?”

Cream opened the door and she sprung forward, hugging Amy tightly. “Amy! It’s so good to see you back safe and sound!”

Amy gave the rabbit a tight hug and smiled. “Of course! It’s gonna take more than what Eggman can dish out to stop me!”

“Good! Would you like dinner?”

“I’m actually looking for Shadow and… a friend. Have you seen him?”

Cream nodded quickly. “Yeah! I invited them to eat too. But they went for a walk and haven’t come back yet.”

Amy shook her head. “How rude to keep you waiting. Do you know where they were going for a walk?”

“Well, Mr. Sonic can’t be seen so they went to the beach to the north of the island.” She whispered.

“Ah, so you saw him…” Amy said with a frown. “How do you feel about him being here?”

Cream rubbed her arm while she looked to her own feet. “It’s honestly a bit jarring. It’s Mr. Sonic but not the one we knew… Our Sonic really is gone… But-” She smiled up at Amy, “this one is just as nice.”

Amy chuckled. “He is, isn’t he?”

“What about you, Amy?” Cream asked with concern.

“Me? Oh, don’t worry. I’m okay.”

Cream frowned, not buying Amy’s answer. “Amy… “It’s okay to not be okay.” remember? Like you told me when Mama died.”

“Yeah, you’re right. It is jarring, like you said. But I’m trying not to let it get to me. He isn’t our Sonic and will have to go home when this is over…” Amy turned toward the path that lead to the beach. “I should go make sure Shadow and Sonic are getting along. We’ll be right back to help you finish dinner!”

Cream nodded and watched as Amy left. She gasped when Cheese buzzed as an alarm inside and rushed in to get the food out. “Thank you for timing it, Cheese!” She smiled and patted the robot chao on the head. It cheerfully started to set the table.

-

Sonic and Shadow were both panting as they stared each other down, waiting for the other to make the next move. Sonic took initiative and ran forward, Shadow raised his hands to counter and at the last second Sonic stopped his kick. Shadow glared at this and tackled Sonic to the ground. He knelt over Sonic, his hands on either side of Sonic’s head.

“I thought I told you not to go easy on me or you’ll get hurt.”

“And you said you didn’t need your hands to fight. I’m not going to injure them more.”

The two stared at each other until Shadow got up, getting off Sonic. The blue hedgehog got to his feet. “Shadow?” He readied himself for another attack when Shadow faced him again, but instead Shadow just frowned. He didn’t quite look at Sonic, his lips parting every few breathes as if about to say something but thinking better of it.

“We can stop.” Sonic said. “We’re pretty beat up as it is. I’m sure Cream is gonna get worried if we come back any more messy.”

“There you two are.” Amy walked into the cavern and looked around, seeing the two out of breath and bruised. She glared when she saw the mess the cavern was in, the training gear knocked over and indents from blows that were clearly at full power or close to it covered the walls and floor. “What did you two do?!”

“Training.” Shadow bluntly answered.

“With your injuries?” Amy scolded.

Shadow frowned. “I needed to test how Sonic holds his own in a battle for myself. I hadn’t gotten to see him fight. You and the echidna did.”

Amy crossed her arms. “Well, this place is a mess!” She sighed. “It’s late now and you both need rest. Cream has dinner all ready for us. She said we can stay the night at her place, which will be best for keeping Sonic hidden.”

Shadow nodded. “Agreed. He might draw attention if we take him to the main base with the others.”

“But tomorrow you are both coming back here and cleaning up! I don’t care if Sonic needs to be hidden, we are not leaving this island until you fix this place up.”

“Okay okay. Let’s get going before dinner gets cold then. We’ll clean up first thing in the morning before anyone gets up.” Sonic announced, excited for a real meal. As the three hedgehogs shut down the training grounds’ lights and headed back, Sonic fell into pace with Shadow. “Hey. Thanks.”

“For?”

“I know the whole testing me thing was your way of cheering me up. I appreciate it. Blowing off steam really helped clear my mind.” Sonic smiled. “Did you know it would or was it a shot in the dark?”

Shadow was silent for a moment before facing forward. “Our Sonic and you are alike in many ways, how you cope with emotional distress happens to be one of them.”

“So your Sonic had his share of setbacks too, huh?”

“... Yes. He didn’t express it often in front of others, but over time I was able to pick up on certain signs of him needing to let out the stress that built up. You both are easier to read than you think.”

Sonic laughed, hoping he wasn’t blushing as hotly as he felt like he was. “Ah, well, guess it’s lucky for us to have you in our lives then.”

Shadow froze mid step, staring at Sonic.

The blue hedgehog stopped and turned back to him. “Shadow?”

Amy paused, hearing the two. She looked at Shadow with worry. “Everything okay?”

“Yes…” Shadow walked past them both and the two exchanged looks before following after him.

Dinner was spent with Cream talking to Amy and Sonic joining in from time to time. Shadow was silent, his attention elsewhere.

-

Sonic yawned and stretched his arms above his head as he walked down the torn streets. “With how often the city gets wrecked, you’d think they’d have a better method of clean up by now.” He complained. “I think we deserve a break for lunch. What do you think?” He turned to the black hedgehog whose pace was a bit slower than his own.

Shadow stared at the skies above, mind drifting through the fog that was the last few days since the big fight he had with the alien race.

“Shads?”

He didn’t realize he came to a stop until Sonic had nudged his arm.

“You listening?”

“Yes. You want lunch.”

Sonic pouted with his hands on his hips. “I wanted your thoughts on lunch, of course I want some.” He paused a moment before showing his concern. “Hey, you alright?”

Shadow closed his eyes with a sigh. “You keep asking me that. The answer will always be the same.”

“I’m gonna keep asking until you tell me what’s really on your mind. I mean, after all that happened with those Black Arms guys and all I’m sure you have a lot going on up there.” Sonic gave his own head a tap in example.

“I suppose.”

“Wanna bounce some of those thoughts off on me? Maybe I can help sort them out a bit.”

Shadow watched Sonic’s smile a moment before he thoughtfully tilted his head. “All these years I have been living to fulfill Maria’s promise. Then to hear the reason of my creation was totally against that.”

“Shadow-”

“I know. I can choose which path I take and make my own future.”

Sonic nodded. “Glad to see you realize that.”

Shadow looked past Sonic to the wrecked city, there were people throughout the streets helping each other to clear out the rubble. “I just have to wonder if I can ever truly be a part of this world like you are without them being scared of me…”

“You saved us all, Shadow. Those who matter see that and know you aren’t to be feared. That you should be respected just like everyone else.”

“I doubt G.U.N. feels the same. They keep trying to get me to work for them, but we both know they just want my aid out of fear that if they can’t keep tabs on me they’ll be on the receiving end of my powers.” Shadow said with a frown.

“Maybe they’ll coming around. You saved them too after all.”

“They still had the Doctor create a robot specifically to destroy me if need be. Even if they came around, I refuse to trust them.”

“Yet you were able to befriend Omega too and give him a different outlook on his own life. That’s what matters, not G.U.N.” Sonic smiled. “I don’t think I ever told you how proud I am of you for that. That was way cool of you!”

“You’re easily impressed.”

“And you downplay the things you do and how far you’ve come.”

“And yet here I am back to where I was, wondering what reason I have to be here and where I want to go now.”

“Haha, you think too much. You know that?” Sonic said with a carefree laugh. “Hey, let’s have a race. We haven’t done that in a while, a good run then lunch will help clear your head.”

Shadow rolled his eyes. “Fine.”

The two crouched down side by side, staring down their now race track.

“Okay, first one to 5th street gets to choose where we go for lunch.” Sonic said.

Shadow nodded in agreement.

“And hey, Shadow?”

The dark hedgehog turned to Sonic who didn’t look away from the goal blocks ahead of him.

“You really are someone amazing, I really can’t express that well enough.”

Shadow’s neutral expression bloomed one of surprise.

“Whatever reason you find for being here, I’m just glad that you are...” Sonic turned to Shadow, his smile nervous but just as sure. “I support whatever choice you make in where you go next, but I do hope it won’t take you far from me. I’m lucky to have you in my life.”

Shadow felt his heart hammer against his chest at Sonic’s gentle words. “Sonic… I-” Before he could finish his thought the blue hedgehog took off, his speed leaving Shadow in a gust of wind. He was stunned for a moment before he ran after him. “I’m pretty sure that was cheating, hedgehog!”

Sonic’s laughter was heard down the street, just far enough ahead of Shadow that the black hedgehog couldn’t see how red his face was.

-

Amy turned the corner of Cream’s house after dinner, finding Shadow in the backyard by Vanilla’s grave. “There you are. We were wondering where you went off to. You left so suddenly after dinner.” She walked over to him and hesitated before standing at his side. “Shadow?”

“I needed some air.”

She nodded and looked at the grave. “It’s weird… Having him here… He’s so much like our Sonic.” She looked at Shadow again from the corner of her eye. “I overheard you two talking before. I’m glad you’re opening up to him.”

“It was a mistake. I got caught up in him being vulnerable and opened myself up too.”

“Guess some things are hard to change. Even years of not being around someone you’re that close to, when you are again you fall right back into it. Even if they aren’t the same person, but rather someone just like them…”

Shadow looked at Amy. “... We shouldn’t. He isn’t our Sonic.”

“I know that. But…” Her smile was sad as she tightly crossed her arms. “...it’s so easy with him. To just pretend he’s back and everything is okay.”

“…”

“It’s okay. I’m not so hopeless to really believe that.” She took a deep breath. “I’m okay. I let him go. Besides, this Sonic doesn’t deserve that kind of weight on his shoulders. He already has so much as it is…”

“He already worries about the pain we feel with him being here.” Shadow frowned, thinking to Sonic and Tails talking at her lab. Then to Sonic getting involved to help break up the fight between himself and Knuckles. How he had been treating Sonic since he first came here. His fists clenched, he had likely only added to Sonic’s concern more so by trying to be distant. He was angry and hurt and perhaps he was also not as hard to read as he had hoped.

“I guess we gotta stand up to the plate and show we’re okay. That we aren’t weak…”

“But maybe you need this.” Rouge’s voice repeated in his head.

“Amy…”

“Yeah?”

He was hesitant, choosing his words carefully and debating on saying nothing. But then he thought about Sonic on the beach, anxiously pacing and tense in his stretches, wanting to scream and run he had so much resting on him. The war, getting home, the Chaos Emeralds, the loss of the other Sonic, the loss of civilians. “You are many things. But weak is not one of them.”

Amy stared at the black hedgehog with a look of bewilderment.

Shadow turned to her and placed a hand on his chest. “What I said to you back at the other base was a lie to try to discourage you from pursuing training with the Chaos Emeralds. I wanted to preserve our Sonic’s final wishes on the matter and saw going against him as disrespectful to his memory… But I am realizing now that by putting that sentiment before our mission I was adding stress to everyone involved, Sonic included… And you.”

Amy swallowed a lump in her throat, eyes stinging. “So then… Will you train me? Please. I can handle it. I want to help. I don’t want to risk losing Sonic again. I don’t want to risk losing you, we just got you back!”

Shadow’s eyes widened as he watched Amy wipe away tears. He was suddenly back on the ARK where she pleaded with him to help Sonic save them, begging him to save the planet. He held out a hand to her, the same way she had all those years ago as she helped him to remember Maria’s true wishes. “Amy. I will train you to be able to harness the power of the Chaos Emeralds. We will defeat Doctor Eggman. No one else will be lost to this war. We’ll make sure of that. Together.”

Amy took Shadow’s hand briefly before she pulled him close and hugged him. “Thank you, Shadow…”

“... I should be thanking you… for being patient with me until I realized all this on my own…”

The pink hedgehog laughed. “Oh, don’t worry. I’ll get you back in training for being a huge jerk.”

 

“Mr. Sonic, it’s rude to eavesdrop.”

Despite Cream’s voice being a whisper, Sonic still jumped a bit from the window where he listened to the two out back. “Cream! Uh, I wasn’t eavesdropping. I just wanted to feel the breeze… from this specific window…”

Cream squinted at him before peeking out the window with him. “I don’t know what’s going on, but I’m glad they worked it out. Amy and Shadow were always good friends. Like Sonic and Tails. Brother and sister.”

Sonic smiled, looking back out to the two hedgehogs outside. “He has all these people who love and care about him… I’m glad he isn’t pushing them away anymore.”

Cream grinned. “Me too.”

Sonic chuckled and ruffled the rabbit’s hair. “Want help making room for everyone to sleep?”

“Sure.” She went to the bedroom ahead of him.

The hedgehog followed, pausing at the doorway, thinking about the Shadow back at his world and how different things could have been if he had been more like this world’s Sonic and had tried harder to save Shadow when he fell from the ARK. Perhaps he would be closer with their friends and more open. Perhaps he and Sonic could be closer. He shook his head and helped roll out sleeping bags, deciding not to let himself go there right now. He didn’t have the time or luxury to regret the past while he had so much riding on his shoulders in the present.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So. The scene in this chapter with past Sonic and Shadow was one of the first scenes I had in my head before deciding to write this fic and I really hope I did it justice.  
> Thanks again for all the love and support! Each comment I get brightens my whole day and leaves me at a loss for words. I actually go back and reread your comments to pump me up! Lots of love to you all, you all inspire me so.


	12. The Citizens

Tails stood at the edges of the ruins of Emerald Town, looking out at the ocean and to the toxic waste being dumped from the power plant just beyond the polluted beach. She dislodged a brick from the building she stood next to and attached a small sensor to it, taking it as close to the waters as she could without risking the technology getting wet. With a deep breath she stepped back and pressed a button on the screen of her watch.

She laid a board on the ground, standing on it and looking back to the watch and setting up the device. “We’re just measuring how far away it is this time to see if we can reach it on the air board without the Tornado. No trying to solo a raid of the plant.” She said as she checked her belt. Her weapons were fully charged and in pristine order, but she wasn’t going to take on the plant my herself. They were just in case.

“It’s just a test. This isn’t a mission. I can’t go on missions. They need me in the lab.” She looked back to the power plant then at the dying once beautiful tropical life around the once lively town. She had made this place her home, got to know the townsfolk and was making a name for herself as an inventor. She helped people, she touched the lives of those who were now lost or driven away. She remembered all their faces and the beautiful community they made together. She tightly closed her eyes as they burnt with frustration and pulled her goggles over her them. She stomped down on the board, stirring it to life. With a slight shift of her weight, she directed it forward toward the ocean.

Once Tails zipped past the crashing waves along the shore her control eased and it was smooth riding. She looked at her watch. “We’re about half way there.” She returned her gaze to her target. “I wonder if this one will be anything like the Chemical Plant Sonic and I took down when I was a kid…”

The fox was surprised as she reached the nearest wall of the plant that no alarm had sounded. She looked up at the building and bit her lip, she did what she came out to do and found out she could reach the plant on hoverboard. But something was wrong. She spun her tails fast enough to lift her off her board, grabbing that too as she flew up the side of the building. When she found a window she peeked inside. The hall was empty so she took some tools from her belt and opened the window. “I’ll just check things out. A quick in and out job. Nothing huge, I won't go in too deep.” She said as she climbed inside.

-

Sonic yawned loudly, wiping his eyes. “Geez, it’s way too early to be awake. The sun isn’t even out.”

“That’s the point. The resistance use this place to train their fighters and they wake up as the sun rises. We need to have this place cleaned up before then.” Shadow chastised. “Do I need to remind you that you can’t be seen by them?”

“Yeah, I know. But it still stinks. I could hardly sleep last night.”

Shadow put away training guns while Sonic made sure the targets were back in place. “Who’s fault is that?”

Sonic shrugged. “No one’s. Am I not allowed to complain?”

Shadow was quiet a moment, pausing before turning to get the wrestling mats in order. “Do I need to respond to your complaining?”

“Nah, it just helps to get it off my chest a bit.” Sonic ran over and helped Shadow pick up a mat, smiling at him from under it as they held it above their heads. “Am I bothering you?”

Shadow rolled his eyes. “I’m not sure which is more annoying, you sulking about or you complaining.”

Sonic laughed and they finished up cleaning the training grounds.

Once they were done and his spikes were neatly tucked into the hood of his cloak, Sonic walked with Shadow to meet with Amy and Cream at the beach. “So what’s the plan now? You gonna work on that new emerald since the doc gave you the clear?”

“Yes. I also agreed to start training Amy in how to use the power of the Chaos Emeralds. Which is what we will be doing today.”

Sonic smiled upon hearing Shadow finally agreed to Amy’s training and he looked to the two girls ahead, waving to them.

Cream waved back while Amy didn’t seem to notice the two. In her hands was their first emerald, the one Sonic had brought with him to their world. She took a deep breath and held it tightly in her hands. Straining her body she shook and let out a shout. Cream looked back to her and frowned. “Did you feel anything this time, Amy?”

Amy took a deep breath and glared at the emerald. “Nothing! What am I doing wrong?”

“Oof, bad morning, huh?” Sonic chuckled, getting a glare from Amy.

“You’re trying too hard to force it. If anything, you are pushing your own energy into the emerald instead of letting its in.” Shadow calmly walked over to her and took the emerald from her hand. “You have to imagine Chaos Energy like one would imagine air. You breath it in, you exhale it out. The trick is to keep it inside and stockpile it to add to your own powers.” He said as he slowly breathed in and shot a Chaos Spear from his fingertips.

Amy sighed. “Easy for you to say, of course this kind of thing would be as easy as breathing for you.”

Shadow tossed her the emerald. “It’s not as hard as you are making it out to be. If Sonic can do it then it should come easy for you.”

Sonic snorted at Shadow’s comment but he couldn’t argue with it. Amy was strong and smart, if anyone could get this down it was her. The only advantage he has to her was his experience, once she mastered this part she will likely surpass him in every way.

Amy looked at the emerald and exhaled as much as she could before closing her eyes.

“Amy!”

She lost her concentration and growled. “What?!” She hissed and turned to the intrusion.

 

Charmy Bee panted as he flew over to them, he was a bit bigger than he was in Sonic’s world. Like Cream and Tails, he was close to becoming an adult now.

“Charmy? What is it? Vector knows I have training.”

“Yes, that’s why he sent me since he figured you might not have your radio on you. We have a distress call!”

Amy handed the Chaos Emerald to Shadow and her annoyance faded to a stern focus. “From where?” She asked.

“From the Power Plant by Emerald Town. Amy, the call is from Tails!”

All three hedgehogs felt a jolt of panic. “Cream, go help Big with the chao. We have to get going.” Amy ordered.

The rabbit nodded. “Yes, Amy.” Cream frowned and with her ears she flew off.

Amy, Sonic, and Shadow followed Charmy to the largest building on the island.

“He’s in the main room, working to get a call to her!” Charmy said as the three sped past him.

Amy was the first through the large doors, inside was all high tech computers and monitors that looked to be similar models to what Tails had at her lab. “Vector, what’s our status? Are we connected with Tails?” She asked as she walked over to the tall crocodile.

“There you are. We’re working on that now, but she isn’t answering our calls. Something in the powerplant must be blocking us from a clear signal.” Vector said as he glared up at the largest screen.

“I’ll try again.” Espio, who stood closer to the desk with the keys for the large computer, said and tried pressing the call button again.

This time the video feed clicked on, at first all they saw was dark flooring.

“Tails? Can you hear us?” Vector asked into a microphone.

The video shifted and turned until the fox’s face was in view. “Hello? Can you guys hear me?”

“Yeah! What’s going on? Why are you in the powerplant?”

Tails frowned. “I came out to measure the distance from the shore to the wall of the building when I noticed I didn’t trigger the alarm system even when I was flying up the wall. When I came inside I found-” She turned the camera and showed the dark room that looked to have been a main hall, then a blue racoon like robot came into view.

“Careful Tails.” Vector warned.

“Not to worry, I do not mean harm.” The robot said.

Shadow frowned. “Wait… I recognize that voice.”

“You do?” Vector turned to Shadow who stepped forward.

“Is that Shadow the hedgehog? It’s been so long, but I couldn’t forget the companion of my best customer.” The robot cheerfully expressed.

“It has been a while, Lucas.” Shadow said, frowning.

“Lucas?” Espio questioned.

Amy put a hand over her mouth with a small gasp. “Oh no. Lucas… He was a vender in Emerald Town. Sonic saw him regularly.”

“He always was a big fan of my chili dogs.” The robot chuckled.

Sonic’s jaw clenched as he stared at the racoon, knowing fully well he was once a living and breathing civilian, much like how Cheese had been.

Tails turned the screen back to herself. “I came to check the plant when I found it nearly empty, besides a lot of disabled or out right destroyed robots. It looked like a huge battle took place here. I then find Lucas and several others here who welcomed me and told me what happened to them.”

She showed several other robots who had approached her, all resembling different animals.

“Shadow. They’re…” Amy whispered.

“Yeah… They were the residents of Emerald Town…”

Sonic felt his stomach drop, each and everyone of the robots who Tails showed had been roboticized and forced to work in the powerplant.

“We bided our time, some of us took longer to regain our memories and free will. But once one of Dr. Eggman’s bases had been attacked ours had been sent into a panic. We overthrew the loyal robots in the chaos and took over the plant.” Lucas explained. “But… That was as far as we got. We had been sitting in the dark, letting the plant run as it usually did and sending false reports back to Dr. Eggman to keep him from coming here. We couldn’t shut down or send out a signal for help without it alerting him.”

Vector scratched his chin. “I see. So now that Tails did for you, we can all put our heads together on how to resolve this.” He turned to the rest of the members of the resistance in the room. “What do you guys think? Tails?”

“Well.” Tails walked over to a machine and held her watch up so the camera could catch what was inside. “They have a Chaos Emerald here, just like in the Mystic Ruins. It powers the place so we can take that and make it look like we were the ones who broke in and took down the robots. But before we do that we can evacuate the surviving civilians of Emerald Town and bring them back to HQ.”

“We will have to clear each and every one of them to make sure they can’t be used to track us. That could take a long time with how many there are.” Espio pointed out.

“I know… But we can’t leave them here.” Tails said and thoughtfully glanced over the robots who stared at her for answers.

“Tails. Take the young ones first.” Lucas spoke up. “The rest of us can stay behind and fake compliance, maybe we can help from the inside to take down Eggman.”

She frowned. “But that will risk you being caught and taken apart.”

Several others expressed wanting to take part in Lucas’ idea to help the resistance. Tails stared at them, each of their faces ones she knew and loved. Each of them neighbors, store owners, families who had all lived around her, who all saw her daily and accepted her into their community. “But…”

“Tails.” Shadow took the microphone from Vector so the fox could hear him clearer. “If this is what they want, we should respect their wishes. Their plan isn’t a bad one and can greatly help us to stopping Eggman.”

Amy smiled proudly at Shadow.

“I know, I just…” Tails bit her lip and touched Lucas’ shoulder. “They were my friends. I was supposed to keep the town safe and I failed them.”

“You didn’t fail us, lass.” Lucas said, raising a hand and placing it over her’s. “It’s because of you, who inspired us all so, that we fought back. We no longer will be civilians who need protecting. But rather freedom fighters, like you, who will take back our homes by our own doing.”

The cheers of the other robots brought tears to Tails’ eyes. She kept her watch away so they wouldn’t be seen on the videofeed.

Vector wiped his eyes quickly and clenched his fists. “That settles it! Our mission now is to get the children through the clear of bugs and trackers then bring them to safety.”

Amy nodded and looked back towards Shadow. “You stay here and work on cleansing the newest emerald. Once that is done they should be ready to relocate the children, when they are in the clear we can move in and take the emerald.” She looked back to the big screen. “Tails. Will you be able to bring some supplies over to the plant to start getting everyone inspected?”

Tails faced the screen of her watch again. “Yeah. I might need another set of hands to get them over here though.”

“I’ll go.” Sonic grinned, taking his hood off and giving Tails a wink. “It’ll be like old times.”

The girl’s face brightened and she smiled. “Okay!”

“Sonic, you can use Chaos Control, can’t you? If you take the cleansed emerald over you can easily teleport in and out of the base without being detected.” Espio thought aloud.

Sonic looked at Shadow. “Will you be okay with that?”

Shadow looked away. “Just don’t lose the emerald.”

Amy smiled. “I’ll go too and help with getting things to run smoothly.” She looked up at Vector. “You don’t need me here, right?”

Vector shook his head. “Go with them. They’ll need some muscle anyway.” He smirked.

“So it’s settled. This is our next move.” Shadow said, moving towards the door. “I will get started on the emerald then.”

“Good. The rest of you, get ready. I’ll sort out the rest with Tails.” Vector gave a thumbs up. “Best of luck out there. I’ll send for Charmy to get a boat set up to get you outta here.”

“Thanks.” Sonic looked back to Tails. “I’ll see ya soon, so hang tight. Good job!”

“Heh, thank you, Sonic. I’ll get ready and meet you at the lab. I’ll send you the info I have, Vector, then get going.” Tails hung up.

As the hedgehogs left, Charmy came inside the room and closed the door. He looked at the other two members of the Chaotix and with wide eyes. “Amy was right, he looked just like Sonic!”

“Well, he technically IS Sonic. Just from another universe.” Espio explained, making sure the call was really ended and Tails didn’t over hear them. “I would be surprised if he didn’t look like his counterpart here.”

“Still, it hits ya like a slap in the face, seeing him. Don’tcha think?” Vector added. “We knew about him, yet it’s still like seeing a ghost.”

Espio frowned. “Yes… But we can’t let ourselves get emotional about it. I’m sure the others are feeling it even more than we are. We must be strong. For their sakes.” He looked at Charmy and shook a finger at him. “And we must be quiet about this. The others aren’t to know about Sonic.”

“I know that! Don’t you trust me?” Charmy made a zipping motion over his lips. “My lips are sealed.”

Vector laughed and grabbed both their heads. “Alright, boys. Let’s get this mission started!” He cheered while nudging them forward.

-

Shadow joined Sonic and Amy to the docks when Charmy had their boat ready. “This is a very delicate mission, civilians are involved this time and any misstep can cost their lives.”

“Yeah. We’ll be careful.” Sonic nodded.

Shadow stared briefly at the serious expression on Sonic’s face. “And Sonic-”

“I know, don’t lose this emerald.” He said, holding up the cleansed Chaos Emerald.

Shadow took the life jacket from the boat and shoved it at Sonic. “Wear it this time.” He paused, hands on the life jacket as Sonic took hold. “Stay safe, Sonic.” It came out softer than he intended it to and he withdrew his hands.

Sonic was left dumbfounded for half a second before he smiled. “Don’t you worry. I’ll have this all done and over with by the time you get your emerald cleaned up. I’ll be back before you can miss me.” He winked and pulled the life jacket on while complaining about it feeling weird on the quills on his back.

Amy got into the boat and held her hand out to help Sonic in. She looked up at Shadow as the driver started the engine.

“If things go wrong, call me. If I have the emerald cleased in time I can come over.” Shadow said.

“We can handle it, so don’t push yourself too hard to rush the process. We don’t want you passing out again.” Amy scolded.

Shadow crossed his arms and frowned but didn’t further argue. He anxiously watched them sail off to the edge of the barrier, where they would get on their own boat again and head right for the powerplant.

“Mr. Shadow?”

He turned to the young rabbit that ran up to him and lowered hands to his sides. “Cream.”

“I didn’t get here in time to say goodbye.” She frowned and looked at the flower in her hand. “I wanted to give this to Mr. Sonic. Can you when you go see him?” She asked, handing it to Shadow.

“... Yes.” He accepted the flower and held it as gently as he could.

Cream tilted her head curiously. “What kind of flowers do you like?”

“I’m not picky. Any flower is fine.”

She smiled. “Me too.”

“I have work I need to do now. I will need space so I will have to see you later, Cream.” He gave her shoulder a pat as he walked past.

“If you hurt yourself let me know and I can patch you up.” Cream called after him.

Shadow nodded and left the docks, finding the rock Sonic had used on the beach the night before that was large enough to stand on top of. He leapt up, placed the flower carefully inside one of the compartments on his belt, and took a deep breath as he took out the bag which held the infected Chaos Emerald. “Like inhaling, take in the energy and let it flow through your body. Then exhale it out and back into the emerald.” he muttered as he gripped it tightly.

Like the last one he did, the energy he took in was sickening. It felt as if it crept up his throat and tried to choke him, but he resisted and held control.

Hidden amongst the palm trees, Cream watched over Shadow with a first aid kit in her arms, ready to do her role in the fight to save their world.


	13. Crocodile Tears

“Thank you so much for finding my daughter.” Vanilla smiled with relief as she placed a hand over her chest.

Vector sat stiffly in the warm home the small rabbit family lived in, staring at the kind mother of the six year old child. “It was no problem!” He grinned. “I’m glad we were able to find her.”

Vanilla gently stroke the top of her daughter’s head, the young rabbit smiling meekly up at her mother. “I owe you three so much. Cream is my whole life, I don’t know what I would have done if something had happened to her.”

Cream looked up to her mother, holding onto her dress. “I’m sorry, Mama. I didn’t mean to be gone for so long… I wanted to go on an adventure like Mr. Sonic and got lost…”

The mother rabbit smiled down to her daughter. “Mr. Sonic has a much more experience, dear. Let’s start somewhere small before we leap to a big adventure. Okay?” She was satisfied by the nod she received and turned back to the Chaotix.

Espio looked over to Charmy as Vector and Vanilla talked to find the young bee picking up a picture frame that sat on an end table. “Charmy! Don’t touch other people’s things.” He scolded.

Charmy whined and held the picture out of reach of the chameleon. “I’m just looking!”

“You don’t need to pick it up to look at it.”

Vector turned to them. “Hey will you two-” His eyes widened as Charmy dropped the picture frame, Espio just missing his catch. The five in the room were in silence, staring down at the broken frame.

Charmy covered his mouth and he started to sniffle. “I’m so sorry.”

Espio guiltily winced. “My apologies…”

Vanilla chuckled and walked over, reaching down and carefully picking up the broken glass. “Don’t worry. Children need to be curious, it is all part of learning and growing up.”

Vector knelt down quickly and helped her pick up the pieces. He glanced at the picture and saw it had two rabbits in it, a man and Vanilla, both holding hands in front of the house they were currently inside of. He handed it back to her. “This your husband?” he asked.

Vanilla looked at the picture fondly. “Yes. This was taken the day we moved in.”

“It’s a very special picture.” Espio added, taking the glass from Vanilla and throwing it out for her as she stood up and carefully leaned the photo against one of a baby cream in her mother’s arms.

Charmy frowned a bit. “He isn’t in any of the other pictures.” He thought aloud.

Vector quietly hissed, “Charmy! Don’t pry.” Though he noticed this when they first visited the rabbit.

“It’s okay.” Vanilla reassured. She looked down at Cream who was quietly staring at the picture. “He passed away while I was pregnant with Cream.”

“I’m so sorry for your loss.” Espio frowned.

“Yeah, it must have been hard.” Vector said.

“It hasn’t been all bad. I have a beautiful daughter who brings me such joy. And I have wonderful friends who have helped me.” She smiled up at Vector. “Such as gentlemen like yourselves.”

Vector’s stance tensed, standing as straight as he could. “Of course! Anytime you need anything just give us a call!” He cringed when he felt the sharp pain in his hands and looked at how he had accidentally clenched them over the glass shards.

“Oh dear!” Vanilla gasped. “Let me get something to clean that up.”

Vector laughed nervously. “Just washing them with soap and water will be fine.”

Vanilla brought out a first aid kit and took out medicine and cotton balls that were neatly labeled and tucked away in the kit. “That won’t do. We must make sure your injuries don’t get infected.” She motioned for Vector to sit back down.

He sat on the sofa he was previously on, the rabbit joining at his side. “You really don’t need to worry, it was my own fault.” He laughed.

Vanilla used tweezers to carefully pick the glass from Vector’s cuts. “No matter the fault, an injury is an injury and must be lovingly tended to.”

Espio stared at how his team leader’s face turned red while stammering. He smirked to himself and tugged on Charmy’s hand to help him clean up the rest of the mess on the floor.

Cream watched as her mother cleaned the crocodile’s wounds with wide curious eyes.

“Heh, kid not scared of blood?” Vector asked.

Vanilla smiled. “I made sure to show Cream that injuries should not rise panic, but rather gentle action.” She finished bandaging his hand. “There. All finished. How does that feel?”

Vector moved his hand a bit. “Much better. Thanks.”

“Mama, you aren’t done!” Cream interjected. She pointed at Vector’s hand. “A kiss for a fast recovery.”

Charmy snickered at the shock on Vector’s face and how both adults blushed. Espio hushed him.

“Sweetie that’s inappropriate for… I mean, Mr. Vector wouldn’t…” Vanilla was at a loss for words, looking at Vector for help.

Vector, with a hot face, stood up and flexed his arms. “Don’t worry, kid! These bad boys heal super fast. When you get to my age, all the kisses you got as a kid makes you really strong!”

Cream looked up at Vector in awe. “Wow. Mr. Vector is really cool, Mama.”

Vanilla giggled. “He certainly is.” She stood up and put away the first aid kit.

“Aw, shucks. Thanks.” Vector quickly glared back at his teammates, pointing a warning finger at them when he saw both holding back laughter. He turned back around when Vanilla returned to the room.

She opened her purse and took out her wallet. “How much do I owe you for being such a big help?”

“Nothing!” Vector nearly squeaked out. He cleared his throat. “I mean, we broke such a special picture frame of yours.” He said matter of factually. 

Vanilla covered her mouth with a hand. “No, that hardly equals the amount of what you have done for us.”

Espio quietly stood behind Vector and whispered. “Yeah, Vector. We can’t afford to turn down money for this job…”

Charmy whined. “Vector, what about dinner?”

Vector awkwardly looked back at the two then at Vanilla and Cream, stubbornly crossing his arms. “You’re a wonderful mother who needs to care for her child. It wouldn’t sit right with me taking money from you. Consider this job to have been a personal favor. You don’t need to worry about us.”

Vanilla stared up at him, seeing he was not budging on this. “Very well… But at least stay for dinner. I’ll make something special for you as a thank you.”

Charmy cheered. “A home cooked meal!”

“Alright, we’ll stay for dinner.” Vector agreed, attempting not to sound too excited about it.

Espio sighed but let this go for for the sake of the crocodile’s pride, joining Vector and Vanilla set up for dinner while Charmy played with Cream.

 

The three got ready to leave after helping clean up after dinner, Charmy giggling with Cream as the two said their goodbyes.

Vanilla saw them out. “Are you sure you will not accept even half of your payment?”

Vector held up a hand and shook his head. “Your hospitality was more than enough.”

“Yeah! You cook way better than Vector! I forgot what good food tastes like!” Charmy yelled and flew behind Espio as the crocodile turned to grab at him.

Vanilla chuckled. “Well, you are welcome to join us again sometime. It was a pleasure having you.”

Cream smiled from behind her mother. “Come again and play.”

Charmy cheered. “You bet!”

Vanilla held out her hand to Vector. “Thank you so much for everything.”

Vector took her hand to shake it. “The pleasure was all ours.” He turned beet red when she brought his hand up and gave his knuckle a kiss.

She smiled sweetly. “Just incase you needed one more to keep up that strength so you can heal.”

Vector fumbled over his words as he thanked her and turned to head out. “Let’s roll boys!”

Vanilla motioned to Espio quickly, whispering something to him.

When Vector saw only Charmy followed he looked back. “Hey, Espio. You coming?”

“Yes.” Espio gave the woman a nod and caught up with his friends.

Charmy looked at the two and smirked up at Vector. “You gonna beg her for dinner every night now? Cuz we’re broke and her cooking was really good.”

“Can it, Charmy. I’ll figure it out.” Vector argued.

“He has a point, Vector. We can’t keep doing these free cases. We’re late on rent as it is.” Espio pointed out. “We don’t want to have to do work for the landlord again, do we?”

Vector groaned. “I know, I know. But she’s a single mother struggling to raise her kid. How could we take money from her?”

“Was it that or was it cuz you like her?” Charmy teased, drawing out the vowel in his “like”.

Vector swatted at the bee who hid behind Espio. “No one asked you!” He looked ahead. “We did the right thing. Besides, there are more jobs out there.” He smiled proudly.

Espio stared up at the crocodile and smiled a bit to himself, hiding the money Vanilla had insisted on giving him. “Yeah, you’re right.”

-

Espio watched Vector as he went over the status of the barrier, trying to figure out how to get a bunch of robotized civilians through it without harming them. Worse came to worse, they would all be shut down momentarily to get through then put back into commission one at a time just like they had to do for Cheese.

“I’m sorry, we have no other way to get that many through.” The engineer said. “It’s too risky to shut the barrier down for even a second.”

“Alright. But what kinda side effect could they have? We got Cheese before Eggman could take away her freewill. But these guys had theirs tampered with.” Vector asked with a troubled expression and arms crossed over his chest.

“We can take our time in getting them running again, go into their systems and try to see if we can get out any programming Eggman may have installed to gain their compliance.”

Vector nodded. “If that’s the best we can do, then we’ll go with that.” he hated the thought of possibly losing some of the civilians once they got to safety because something went wrong on their end.

“Alright. I’ll get the others ready to take them in as soon as they arrive.”

Vector sighed when the engineer left, rubbing his tired eyes. “Man, this sucks.”

“With the short amount of time we have been given, we can’t do much more.” Espio replied, following his friend. “Vector… When was the last time you got some rest?” He asked.

“I get some rest between missions at the base.” Vector answered.

Espio thoughtfully looked to Vector’s hand and back up at him. “I mean at home, in your own bed.”

“We’re in wartime, Espio. I can’t just leave my post.”

“I can handle things while you get some time to yourself. We don’t want you overworking yourself.”

Vector looked down at the chameleon. “Well… I suppose I can at least check in at the home. See how things are going.”

“It’s been a while since you’ve had dinner with her. I’m sure she misses you.”

Vector looked at Espio with wide eyes and stopped. “... Yeah.” he mumbled sadly.

Espio smiled. “Go see her. I’ll go tell the others the plan and take it from there. If things get complicated I will send Charmy to find you.”

Vector wearily smiled at his friend. “Thanks, pal.”

Espio watched his friend and thought to what Vanilla had said to him that day.

“I’m not the only good parent raising a child.”

Espio returned to the base to pass on the message, hoping the break will help ease Vector’s mind.

-

Sonic watched as Tails hooked up each civilian one at a time. The scans didn’t take as long since they weren’t too complicatedly programed like more powerful robots tended to be, but the hedgehog couldn’t help but fidget while he waited.

“Okay, so we may have to take a couple trips to get everyone there. Our boats aren’t big enough for everyone to fit at once.” Amy said, scrolling through the message on the screen of the device around her wrist. “They estimate it’ll be two or three trips with minding a capacity the boats have for safety.” She looked up at Tails. “We will have to be very careful with this. With how much time this will take we could get caught.”

Tails nodded, finishing up. “Alright. I’ll use the systems here to keep an eye on any activity Eggman might have.” She smiled. “Actually, I should take some of the data from these systems to hack into with our own computers. But I can do that when we are ready to leave incase I trip any alarms.”

Sonic looked over the citizens who were all finished with their scans, adjusting his hood. They had been told not to ask too many questions about his ability to use Chaos Control but he was sure at least a few of them had their suspicions.

He whistled to Amy and nodded towards the hall, walking out of range of the citizens. When she came over he whispered. “So, what’s gonna happen if we get caught? How will we defend them while traveling by boat?”

Amy frowned. “Well, we have a few members who have been brought outside the barrier who took to airboards who will give us back up. But fights on the sea are always risky.” She looked back into the room at how Tails comforted the children while she gently worked with them. “But we can’t just leave them here. Not the children at least…”

Sonic nodded. “Yeah. And I dunno if I can do that big a jump with Chaos Control. I’m not as good at it as Shadow is.”

“And we don’t know if even he could pull that off in his current state.” Amy added, looking at the Chaos Emerald in Sonic’s hand. “I wish I had more time to practice. Maybe I could have done more…”

Sonic smiled. “Don’t even worry about it. This is gonna go smoothly.” He reassured.

She grinned. “Yeah. Gotta be positive.”

“I think we’re ready for the first trip.” Tails announced, walking over to join them. “Amy, you’re sure you’re okay going with them each trip? That’s a lot of driving.”

Amy winked at the fox girl. “Of course. You can drive when we get outta here on our last trip.”

Tails nodded cheerfully. “Okay!”

“Awesome. Let’s get some of them into the boat.”

 

Tails was able to fly citizens down to the boat in the waters at the base of the plant two at a time until they reached their max for the first trip. She got Amy down and wished them luck as they took off over the waves.

Sonic awaited by the computers, tapping his foot until something on the screen moved. He whistled for Tails and when she came over he pointed at the screen and kept his voice down so the robots couldn’t hear him. “Looks like we got trouble.”

The fox looked up at the screen. “Yeah, someone from Eggman’s side is making their way here, and fast.”

The blue robot racoon, Lucas, looked up at the screen as well. “What do we do? They’ll be here any minute now…”

“Don’t worry. We’ll think of something.” Tails reassured the racoon and looked back at Sonic who glared from under his hood. She thought quickly and stood close to Sonic. “We could hide and they act like normal but there are too many signs of their fight with the loyal robots. We can’t clean that up fast enough.”

Sonic looked down at the Chaos Emerald he had. “I could teleport us to your lab. But we would have to make fast work of our plans. Grab the emerald and bail. Then hide out at your lab until it’s safe to get them to HQ.”

Tails nodded and when she turned to tell the rest of the civilians when they heard metallic footsteps in the hall. The screen buffered and showed the marker had jumped from where it was about an hour away to right on top of the Plant. She grabbed Sonic’s wrist and pulled him under a desk, the two hiding. She waved at Lucas in hopes he could catch on to the plan.

“Crap, they came fast.” Sonic whispered.

Tails frowned. “What could have gotten here so fast that the computer wouldn’t be able to keep up?” She covered her mouth as the doors opened.

Sonic glared as he watched exactly who he feared would show up.

Metal Sonic looked over the robots in the room. “Your halls are covered in fallen comrades. Explain.”

Lucas bravely stepped forward. “Sir, they have rebelled against us to take over the Power Plant. We quickly foiled their plans and regained control.”

Metal Sonic stared down at the robot racoon and walked over to the machine that held the Chaos Emerald. “So… What you are saying is the robots who have been destroyed were disloyal to Doctor Eggman.”

“Yes.” Lucas answered.

“And that you remain loyal.”

“Yes.”

Metal Sonic contemplated what to do as he pressed a few buttons.

“Uh… Was there something wrong with our actions?” Lucas asked, glancing over to where Tails and Sonic hid before Metal looked back.

“No.” He pressed the final button and an alarm went off. “It just means you are useless to me.”

Tails gasped as Sonic quickly climbed out from under the table. “Metal! What did you do?!” He yelled.

“Sonic!” Tails followed him out and looked at the flashing screens. “He initiated the plant’s self destruction program!”

Metal Sonic seemed surprised to see Sonic. “You…”

Sonic smirked, rolling his shoulder and getting into a fighting stance. “Heh. Didn’t think we’d run into each other so soon.”

Metal Sonic looked back at the robots behind Lucas, seeing how they started to panic. It didn’t make sense for loyal robots to cower behind Sonic the hedgehog. “Seems I have made a miscalculation…”

“Yeah, you did.” Sonic ran at him, jumping out of the way when Metal made to grab him. “Tails! I’ll hold him off and meet you on the roof!”

Tails nodded and motioned for the robots to all follow her.

Metal looked back as the robots fled and was cut off from them when Sonic ran in front of him. “If you are helping them then they must be the disloyal robots.”

Sonic readied himself. “Yeah, memories in tact and everything.” He glared. “They had lives before you came along and destroyed them. Let them go live as best as they can now.”

Metal Sonic’s eyes flashed brightly and shot a beam from his chest, the hedgehog dodging and climbing up on the computers and to the machine that held the Chaos Emerald.

Sonic quickly looked around for the button to open it and was slammed against the wall.

The robot dragged Sonic against the wall before throwing him to the ground, returning to the machine and pressing the button the hedgehog was looking for. He watched the case hiding the emerald open and reached to take it but was grabbed by the arm and pulled backwards.

“I don’t think so.” Sonic said as he jumped over Metal and grabbed the emerald. He quickly ran past Metal and out the door. There was no way he could take the robot on his own as well as get everyone away from the Power Plant in time. Then there was the worry of this new emerald. Right away his stomach started to feel queasy and his vision started to blur. “Crap, crap, crap.” He fell to the ground and dry heaved, desperately clutching the emerald that hurt him.

Metal Sonic caught up, walking over him. “You are a fool to try handling this with your bare hands.” He bent down and pulled the emerald from Sonic’s hand with ease, unaffected by the emerald’s contamination.

Sonic collected himself and as Metal walked past he grabbed his leg, pulling it out from under the robot. “And you were a fool thinking I’d just lay here and let you take it.” He punched the emerald from Metal’s hand and climbed up over him to pin him down.

Metal charged up another beam, firing it and just missing the hedgehog who jumped out of the way.

The beam shot through the floor above and through the roof, just missing a few of the fleeing robots.

Tails gasped and motioned everyone away from the area it came from. “Sonic?!” She called out.

Sonic reached for the emerald on the ground and was pulled back by the hood of his cloak. He choked and quickly untied it from his neck. He ran from Metal and scooped up the emerald. “Tails! I need the bag to carry this!” He yelled out, running as Metal shot at him again.

Tails heard this and winced, slapping herself on the forehead. “Of course we forgot something in our hurry.” She looked at the robots. “Stay here. I’m going to meet Sonic and give him a hand.”

Lucas nodded. “Don’t worry about us. You do what you have to do, lass.”

She nodded and ran back into the building.

Fighting against Metal Sonic while feeling the symptoms of the corrupt emerald was proving to be difficult. He was quickly overpowered and pinned against the wall, Metal’s hand at his neck. He dropped the corrosive emerald and held his own tightly. “Chaos Control.” he gasped out, teleporting from Metal Sonic’s hold.

Tails ran into the hall they fought in and aimed one of her weapons at the robot hedgehog, Sonic appearing next to her. “You okay, Sonic?”

“Peachy. Got the bag?”

She tossed it to him and he smirked. “Alright, Metal. How about you explain yourself? If you’re working for Eggman then why would you set this place to blow up when the robots claimed to be loyal to him?”

Metal Sonic picked up the emerald Sonic dropped and stared back at him and the fox. “I have no need to explain myself to the likes of you.”

Sonic dashed at Metal sonic, bag over his hand so he could make a grab for the emerald. He reached for it just as Metal Sonic used his jets to fly backwards and away from Sonic. “What’s your deal?!”

Metal Sonic held the emerald tightly and leapt out the window to the ocean below.

“Metal!” Sonic ran over to try to catch him but the robot had already flown off, flying over the waves and to the shores. “Darn it!” he cursed then looked back at Tails. “Let’s get outta here. I still have the other emerald.”

Tails nodded and lead him to the roof where they all got as close to each other to fit in Sonic’s Chaos Control.

Metal Sonic looked back and watched the glow from the top of the Power Plant before it blew up as he landed on the rocky part of the shore far from the abandoned town. He looked at the emerald in hand then the cloak he had in the other.

He had originally made his way to the Power Plant when he had heard from another robot who worked communications that the radio signals from the Plant weren’t sounding exactly as they used to. It wasn’t enough for alarm, but he wanted to see for himself what was going on before it was reported to Eggman in hopes that he could gain alliance if they had indeed gone rebel. He, however, had made a mistake believing the robots to have been loyal and lost potential support to their cause.

And then there was Sonic. Metal clenched his fist over the cloak he held. Seeing Sonic had caused many confusing emotions in the robot. It was disorienting and sparked an uncomfortable jealousy.

He shook his head and opened his chest, hiding the emerald inside and shutting it tightly. He looked at the cloak and had an idea as he threw it over his shoulders. Pulling the hood over his head, he started to make his way towards the city.

“One down…”

-

Shadow panted as he stared at the emerald he had to set down while he caught his breath, wiping his mouth off on his arm. He heard someone approach and looked back, sighing as the rabbit flew up to his side. “Cream… What is it? I need to be alone to do this…”

“That was the second time you got sick…” She timidly pointed out. “You should come get some water and take a break. You will pass out from dehydration at this rate.”

“You’ve been watching me?” Shadow groaned but thought better than to be dismissive of the girl’s worries. She was working with the medic after all and he would rather not pass out and end up being scolded for not heeding Cream’s warning. “Fine…”

She smiled as he collected the emerald into its case and she lead the way back to her house. “I’ll make lunch too. Food and water will have you feeling better in no time.”

He followed the rabbit back to her place, looking down at the encased emerald. It was about half way finished since he was pacing himself a bit more than he had with the first one. He still felt the effects of using his powers and holding the sickly emerald but the inhibitor rings and going slow took the edge off enough for him to be able to work in a less self destructive manner.

When they got closer they could hear music coming from the house and the rabbits eyes widened and she ran ahead of Shadow, throwing the door open.

Inside, Vector was putting away food and bobbing his head to the beat. He looked to the door when he heard it slam open and he grinned. “Cream!” He greeted, closing the fridge. “Oh, and Shadow. Taking a break too?” He greeted as Shadow joined them.

Cream smiled brightly. “You got a break?” She asked Vector.

“You bet. I gotta come check in on you once in a while. Big can’t be the only one who looks out for you.” He winked.

She beamed and ran over to him, hugging the crocodile. “I know you look out for me, silly.”

He ruffled her bangs. “Good. Well, you two hungry? I picked up some grub while waiting for you to get back.” Vector went over to his radio and lowered the volume of his music.

Cream nodded and got a cup of water for Shadow. “We’d love some lunch! And you should sit down and rest.” She said to the hedgehog, handing him the cup and staring at his hands.

“Thank you…” Shadow answered quietly, taking a seat and a sip of the drink. He eyed her as she opened the first aid kit she brought with her. “What are you doing?”

“You need clean bandages.” She said, coming to his side as she took out supplies from her kit. Everything inside it labeled and fit neatly inside, just how she learned from her mother.

Vector cut up some lettuce as Cream unwrapped the bandages from Shadow’s hands. “So how’s the whole cleansing going?” He asked.

Shadow looked up from Cream’s work to the crocodile. “I’m nearly finished. I have to pace myself so it’s taking longer than I had hoped for…”

“Good! Amy told us what happened when you rushed it. Better if you take your time for now so you don’t hurt yourself.” Vector loudly expressed.

Cream giggled. “Don’t worry, I’ll be there to make sure you don’t get hurt. And if you do then I’ll help you! Cuz “an injury is an injury and must be lovingly tended to.””

Vector nearly froze in place at Cream’s quote and smiled sadly to himself. He took out a few tomatoes to cut up for the sandwiches he worked on.

“There. All done!” Cream stated as she stood up and threw away the soiled bandaging.

Shadow admired her work and found they weren’t too tight that he couldn’t move his hands but tight enough to not slide around. “Thank you, Cream.”

“Of course, Mr. Shadow.” She put away her kit and Vector set the three sandwiches on the table.

“Alright, eat up you two.” He announced proudly.

They all sat at the table and ate their lunches, Cream chatting cheerfully and Vector occasionally shaking the table with his booming laugh. Shadow looked between the two and while their company wasn’t bothersome, he couldn’t help but feel like he was intruding. But he did find Cream had been right about the food and water helping him to feel better.

 

When they finished, Cream excitedly lead Vector out back to show him the flowers she brought her mother. Shadow was dragged along despite his protests. Vector praised Cream for how neat the grave was kept before curiously looking around. “Where’s Cheese by the way? Playing with the other chao?”

Cream nodded. “Yeah. She helps tend to them with Mr. Big since I usually am at the clinic. Her being there with me scares the patients…” She frowned down at her feet.

Vector placed a hand on her head. “Hey, as long as you know Cheese isn’t a threat then that’s all that matters.”

Shadow watched the rabbit reach down and pick up one of the flowers to show the crocodile.

“See? Just like how Mama grew them. Mr. Big is amazing with plants.”

Vector delicately touched the petals of the flower. “ He sure is. It’s beautiful. Just like how she liked them.”

Cream reached a hand up, touching Vector’s hand. Her fingers lingered on a ring he wore. “Just like how you liked them too. Right, Papa?”

Vector’s eyes widened as he looked down at the rabbit. “Yeah. Just how I like them too.” his voice trembled as he was given the flower.

Shadow eyed the crocodile and looked at Cream. “We should put the flowers in some water so they will last longer.” He suggested.

“Oh! Good idea!” The rabbit ran inside, leaving the two alone in front of the grave.

Shadow hesitantly stood by Vector’s side, looking at the letters of Vanilla’s name on the grave.

“She didn’t call me that for the longest time after Vanilla passed.” Vector admitted. “Dunno if it’s the trauma or maybe she blamed me since I was out working when they were attacked… But either way, It’s nice to hear it again.”

Shadow could remember that day, the fires in the forest around the small village the family lived in, Vector being held back by Espio and Knuckles when Vanilla’s body was taken, and Cream unable to even speak from the shock until months later once she had settled into life on the island. Shadow can only imagine the pain the crocodile felt when his daughter rejected any comfort from him, the girl refusing to leave Big or Amy’s side.

“Amy told me she has been doing better since she started working at the clinic.” Shadow looked at one of his bandaged hands. “She has a talent for it.”

Vector chuckled sadly. “She’s a good kid.”

“She had good role models.”

“Heh, tell that to Charmy. Can’t get that one to behave even at his age.” Vector huffed and quietly cursed, reaching up and wiping tears from his eyes. “Sorry.”

Shadow glanced up and quickly looked away. “Don’t be.”

They were silent and Shadow felt guilt being there since the crocodile didn’t get to visit often. He knew the two had a lot of catching up to do and how important it was for Cream to reconnect with her stepfather. “... I can leave and give you two some time.”

“Don’t be ridiculous.” Vector interjected. “You’ve been gone for so long, Cream is happy to see you again.” He nudged Shadow with his elbow a bit rougher than he likely intended. “It’s good to have you around again. You’re always welcome.”

Shadow looked up at Vector with surprise. He wasn’t sure how to respond to Vector, but he was thankful nonetheless.

“Vector!”

The crocodile turned to the teenage bee flying at him as fast as he could, catching Charmy. “Slow down!” He scolded. “What’s going on?”

“The Power Plant! It blew up!”

Shadow and Vector’s eyes widened. “Details, Charmy!” Vector demanded. “What of everyone in it!?”

“Oh, they’re okay. Sonic got them to Tails’ lab.” Charmy laughed nervously as Vector glared at the bee.

“Why didn’t ya start with that?!” He shouted.

“Hahah, sorry.”

“If they’re okay then what’s the problem that has you rushing over here?” Vector asked with agitation.

Charmy frowned. “Well, the Chaos Emerald from the plant was stolen.”

Shadow glared. “By who?”

“That’s the problem… It was Metal Sonic…”

They heard the light gasp and looked over to see the cup of water that Cream was bringing over had been dropped on the ground, the rabbit’s eyes wide with shock.

“Cream…” Vector gently stepped towards her when the rabbit run away with tears in her eyes.

Charmy covered his mouth. “Sorry… I didn’t realize she was there…”

Vector closed his eyes with a sigh. “Let her go for now…” He turned to Charmy and Shadow. “I’m gonna head back to find out more about what happened. You coming, Shadow?”

The hedgehog nodded, worried about the well being of Sonic and Tails after having faced someone like Metal Sonic. “Yes.”

As they headed back to the base, Vector looked back to where Cream had run off, knowing fully well she would have gone to find comfort from Big rather than him.

“She’ll come back.” Shadow whispered to the crocodile.

“Yeah…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had this on a short hiatus while writing a one shot [which is posted if anyone is interested] but I am back!
> 
> idk when I will get to drawing more designs since art comes harder to me than writing, but for reference sake; Lucas' design is based on the raccoon animal you can get in SA2 combined with Uncle Chuck from the comics.


	14. Worries and Small Talk

Sonic yawned as he watched Tails go over the surveillance. “We clear to leave yet?” He asked.

Tails shook her head. “Not yet. I’m seeing several Eggman robots searching the area. Likely looking for clues to what happened at the Power Plant.” She turned in her seat and looked at the civilians that cramply fit in her lab. She smiled gently. “Don’t worry, they won’t find us down here. I made sure of that.”

Sonic followed her lead with a wink. “How else would she have been able to stay down here all this time?”

The civilians seemed soothed by the confidence the two expressed.

Sonic turned to Tails and leaned closer. “So how’re we gonna find Metal and that Chaos Emerald?” He asked in a whisper.

Sheepishly, Tails brought up a map. “Don’t get mad, but your cloak he took has a tracking device embedded inside it…”

“It what? You that worried I was gonna wonder off?”

She flinched. “I had it installed before you got it…” Tails guiltily turned on the location of the tracker. “Looks like he is heading for the City in Mystic Ruins.”

Sonic frowned to himself, remembering his brief time there with Shadow when he first arrived. “We’ll talk about that tracker later. So. How are we supposed to get in there? Last time I went it was pretty busy and had a ton of security.”

Tails thoughtfully zoomed in and the area came to view. “It’ll have to be a stealth mission. So we will have to contact Rouge. I’m sure she will also have information on how to get in and out since she and Knuckles have had their eyes over the Mystic Ruins area.” She looked back to the hedgehog. “Now that I think about it, going after Metal in the city might also mean we could get the Chaos Emerald of that area.”

“I’ll bet that’s why he’s going there… No sweat! It’ll be like hitting two birds with one stone. But with Chaos Emeralds… and hitting a robot.” Sonic clarified with a smirk, punching his palm for emphasis.

The fox thoughtfully stared at the Chaos Emerald Sonic had that sat on the desk. “This is so weird though… Why would Metal Sonic be after the Chaos Emeralds?”

“Maybe they caught on to us after we snatched that last emerald and wanna lock them all up somewhere they can keep a close eye on them.” Sonic suggested.

“Perhaps. Regardless, we should go and get those emeralds. I’ll give Rouge a call and sort out the details.”

“Alright. I’m gonna give Shadow a call, see how the progress with his emerald is going. He seemed to know the city well and maybe by now he’ll be ready to join in on the fun.” Sonic said as he stood up to leave and make the call from his watch in the room with the cots for privacy.

“Sonic!”

“Hm?” he stopped and turned to her.

Tails nervously played with her hair. “Uh… Please don’t tell him… about the cloak.”

Sonic stood with his hands on his hips. He glanced over to the civilians and saw they had given the two space and were chatting amongst themselves. “I won’t but what’s up with that anyway?”

“I was just worried about him… I never used it since he kept better contact with me than the others and I wanted to respect his privacy but… Well…” She looked at the Inhibitor rings still on her desk. “Everyone kinda had to come to terms with the idea that he might never come back… that he could have died out there somewhere… I trusted that he would be okay so I didn’t tell anyone I saw him every few months but… If he were hurt in a fight… How would I know? So I made it have a passive heart reading mechanic and sewed it into the cloak where it would be around his neck… I would only be notified if it sensed something were wrong.”

The hedgehog watched as the girl clenched her fists on her lap.

“I swore I’d never use the locator on him unless something was seriously wrong and I had to go help him… As much as I trust him… He wasn’t in a place where he would have asked for help if the worst were to happen to him…”

“Kinda a breach in trust, you sneaking it on him like that. But you were protecting him. I get it.” He offered a small smile. “You should still talk to him about this though. Maybe do it when you are up to telling him how you really feel when it comes to him since it kinda goes hand in hand.”

She nodded her head. “I will. Hopefully he won’t be too mad.”

“Heh, he’s been full of surprises lately, so who knows.” Sonic replied, recalling Shadow and Amy able to talk things out and him realizing how his actions affected her and taking responsibility for it.

Tails managed a half smile. “Alright. I’ll get to those calls. You see if Shadow is ready to join us.”

“On it.”

As Sonic left the room, Tails picked up one of the inhibitor rings and frowned to herself and ran a thumb over it thoughtfully.

-

Amy left the civilians she got to the island in the capable hands of their engineers and thoughtfully looked up as she caught sight of her breath, watching it float above her.

“The cold season is upon us.”

She turned when she heard Espio and gave him a nod. “Yeah. Hopefully we are ready for it.”

“We are. The next few days we will be harvesting the last of the food outside the greenhouses and bringing the chao to the shelter.”

Amy frowned. “It used to always be so warm here. It’s so sad how much the weather has been affected… The chao hate having to be stuck inside.”

“It certainly is different for them.” Espio walked past her. “It is just another reason for us to fight. Hope that someday nature will fix itself.”

“I hope it can happen in our lifetime… You going anywhere?”

Espio nodded and frowned to himself. “Don’t tell Vector, but I was going to seek out Cream. With the topic of Metal Sonic hanging heavy over us I think they should be together.”

“It isn’t like you to get involved.” Amy thoughtfully joined his side. “Vector alright?”

The chameleon sighed. “He says he is, but he’s a bad liar. Cream running off instead of seeking him out for comfort still stings for him. And Tails just informed us of a plan for them to go after Metal Sonic… Vector… is taking some time for himself right now. It’s getting to him.”

“I’d be surprised if it didn’t after what Metal Sonic did…”

“I’m hoping being with his daughter will help him to feel better. Or at least they can support each other…” Espio lead the way through the small village that surrounded their Headquarters. “I just hope she will listen to me.”

“I doubt it’ll be a problem, but I’ll help you. She’ll listen to me if nothing else.” Amy reassured.

When they approached the home where they kept the chao they saw Big carrying a few in while others trailed behind him.

“Big!” Amy called out and waved.

The large cat smiled and greeted them.

“Is Cream around?” Espio asked.

Big motioned them to follow him inside and set the chao down. The home was set up like a preschool, old toys neatly stored on shelves, crayon pictures decorating the walls, and handmade tables set up with small sewn cushion seats. “Cream? You have visitors.”

Cream was sitting in a worn out bean bag, reading a book to the chao with Cheese at her side. She smiled when she saw the two and got up. “Amy, Espio! The school looks even better than last winter, right? We got a lot of donations from the craftsmen here on the island.”

“It looks amazing, Cream.” Amy smiled and she side eyed Espio who took a step forward.

“Cream. Vector has off the rest of the day still. How about we go home? I could use help making dinner for him. He could use some cheering up.”

Cream thoughtfully stared up at Espio. “Papa’s sad too?”

Espio nodded. “He’s being strong for us, but we should do what we can to lessen his burdens. Being there for him, as a family, will help.”

The rabbit shamefully stared down at her feet. “I should apologize for taking off. It must have hurt his feelings…”

Amy was about to offer comfort when the door slammed open and Vector loudly came in carrying fruits for the chao, Charmy behind him with their boombox.

“Time for lunch then dance lessons!” Vector shouted as Charmy turned on the music.

“What are you two doing here?” Espio asked, surprised to see his teammates.

“Well, it’s getting colder out right? So we figured we’d lend a hand in getting the chao ready for winter!” Vector explained as he set the fruit down on a table in a messy pile.

Cream looked up at him as he handed one to her.

“Help me hand these out, Creamy.” He winked.

The rabbit smiled and giggled as the crocodile ruffled her fur on top of her head.

Charmy set the boombox down and flew over to Espio. “You gonna learn to dance too?” he smirked.

Espio rolled his eyes before whispering to Charmy. “I’m guessing this is Vector’s way of feeling better?”

“Yeah. But also his way to help Cream. He figured she would be with Big and the chao so instead of sitting at home being upset why not come help them out too?”

Amy smiled and watched how Cream and Vector helped Big get the chao to sit down at the tables to eat. “Guess we were worried for nothing.”

Espio grunted in agreement.

The hedgehog looked up at the clock. “I should go check on how Shadow is doing. Make sure he isn’t making himself sick.”

“Yes. Thank you for accompanying me, Amy.” He saw her out before joining his friends, glad to see Vector and Cream able to busy themselves and bond at the same time.

 

Amy headed toward the beach, looking around for where Shadow had said he would be. When she found the large rock the sun was setting and the air growing colder. “Should have brought a jacket…” She shivered.

When she got to the rock she saw him laying down on top of it, his legs hanging off the side. “Hey, Shadow. Taking a break?” She waited a moment before his silence became worrying. “Shadow?” She climbed up on the rock and knelt over him. “You alright?”

Shadow blankly stared up at her. “... Yes. Sorry, I was just… thinking.”

“What about?” She asked sliding over to his side and laying down next to him. She turned her head towards him when he didn’t respond. “We don’t have to talk about it if you aren’t up to it. But talking might help.”

“I’m unsure if it is a problem or if I am simply reading too much into it. But if it becomes an issue I will let you know.”

Amy smiled. “I hope whatever it is, that it works out alright.” 

“Thanks…” Shadow saw a light on the communication device Tails had forced on him glow, the screen coming to life with Sonic’s name appearing in a call. He grimaced at the emojis next to his name that the hedgehog put in himself when he put in his contact into Shadow’s device. He answered it to see Sonic’s face appear on screen. “What’s the update?”

“Hello to you too. So how’re you up to?”

“Quit the small talk, Sonic. What’s going on?”

Sonic visibly pouted. “You’re no fun.” He adjusted his posture a bit. “Well, we still got robots around here so we can’t leave through the front doors. Otherwise we have a plan. Tails found where Metal Sonic went off to. Remember the city we drove through when you first found me?”

“You plan on going into the city?” Shadow frowned disapprovingly. “You couldn’t pull off sneaking to the Power Plant, the city will be too dangerous.”

“I’m hurt by the lack of faith you have in me. Besides, it won’t be just me. Rouge is going to go too.”

“Then at least one of you will know what you’re doing.”

“You know. There is one way to make sure I don’t mess this up.” Sonic said with a smirk. “How close are you to finished with that emerald?”

Shadow looked to the emerald that sat in its case. “I’m not sure me going on a mission so soon is a good idea. My powers still wear me out.”

“You’re much more than your powers, remember? You can fight without them.” Sonic gently reminded him of what Shadow had said in their mock fight back at HQ.

Shadow stared dumbfoundedly at the blue hedgehog and felt Amy lean into him.

“Yeah. Besides, don’t you carry a gun still? You really outta use that more.” Amy said before waving to Sonic.

Sonic waved back and grinned. “That’s right. You never used it since I got here so I totally forgot you had that.”

Shadow cringed a bit. “I only use that for a last resort… Why do you want me to go so badly anyway?”

“Well, a few reasons. First, it’ll be payback for our last visit. Then it would do you some good getting your feet wet with a mission after all this time.” Sonic said with a smirk before his expression softened. “Lastly, Rouge will be there. When was the last time you went on a mission with her?”

“You’re sticking your nose into my problems again…” Shadow warned though he wasn’t able to sound as annoyed as he felt he should have been. He actually agreed with Sonic, that it would be good to get him used to going on missions again, and going along with Rouge would give him a chance to show her he isn’t all talk. “Fine. I’ll teleport over and-”

“Woah wait, you never said how far along the emerald is!”

Shadow took it from its case and held it up. “I finished it a little while ago. I was just catching a breather before my next task when you called. I’ll get as close as I can and take out the robots so you won’t risk being seen when you leave.”

“Cool. But you know, I could handle the robots. I’ll wait for an opening then bolt outta the lab and take them out before they even notice me… Or do you not trust me to pull that kinda thing off after the Power Plant?” Sonic asked, crossing his arms with a childish scowl.

Shadow looked away from the screen and spoke with a quiet voice. “You were hurt at the Power Plant. You should take it easy until the mission to avoid further harm…”

Amy glanced up at Shadow as he avoided eye contact with either of them. She smiled towards Sonic. “Well, you heard him. No fighting for you right now. He’ll take care of it when he gets there.”

Sonic stared at Shadow with shock but shook it off and nodded his head. “Alright, alright. I’ll wait…” His voice became quieter, though he didn’t look away as he spoke. “You be careful too, alright?”

Shadow returned his gaze to the screen. “I will be…”

“See you soon.”

“Yeah.” When Shadow hung up he sighed and awaited Amy to talk first.

“So.” She dragged out the vowel. “Does Sonic have to do with this problem you may or may not be reading too much into?”

“... Can I still opt to not talk about it?” Shadow asked with a barely audible voice.

Amy was silent a moment before wrapping her arms around him and leaning her cheek into his shoulder. “Yes. You can. But I’m here when you’re ready.”

Shadow let out a breath through shut teeth and pushed aside the uncomfortable swirling warmth in his chest. “Thank you, Amy…”

-

“Shadow’s on his way.” Sonic announced as he came back into the room Tails sat in. He noticed her slumped in her chair, holding an inhibitor ring. “Hey, everything okay?”

“I’m scared…” She muttered.

Sonic walked over to her side, pulling up the second chair. “Of what? Us going to the city?”

“A lot of things… But right now I’m just scared that when I talk to him he will leave again…”

“He won’t.”

Tails made eye contact with Sonic. “How are you so sure?”

Sonic smiled. “Cuz he’s come a long way in the time I’ve been here. I think he’s finally seeing things differently and coming around.”

The fox sheepishly smiled. “That’s good to hear.” She quickly turned her stare to the computers screens when the surveillance caught the robots being destroyed. “I’m guessing that’s him.”

“Yep. Guess that’s my cue to get ready to head out.” He paused before turning away from Tails. “Hey.”

She looked up at the hedgehog. “Yeah?”

Sonic gave her a thumbs up. “Just be honest with him when we get back from the mission. Say everything you need to, cuz he also needs to hear it.”

“I will.” Tails stood up, placing the inhibitor ring down on her desk again before hitting the button on the keyboard to open the lab entrance. “He’s waiting for you, Sonic.”

He nodded and headed to cross the lab to the exit.

“And Sonic?”

“Hm?”

“Come back safely. All of you.”

The hedgehog gave her a reassuring grin and left the lab, finding Shadow pulling his bike out from where it was hidden. “You ready?”

Shadow pulled his goggles on over his eyes and started up the bike. “As ready as I’ll ever be. You have your Chaos Emerald?”

“No, should i?”

“No. We only need one right now since we will hopefully be bringing back two.”

Sonic climbed onto the back of Shadow’s bike. “Oh, we definitely will be bringing them back” He smirked and paused before putting his hands on Shadow’s waist, it having been quite a while since they had done this. He was glad Shadow didn’t turn around. It saved him the embarrassment of his face being so red.

“Let’s not get our hopes up… Where’s the cloak I gave you by the way?”

Sonic stiffened nervously and laughed. “Oh, funny thing. Metal got it when we were fighting and took off with it and the Chaos Emerald. Sorry bout that.”

Shadow sighed. “It’s fine. I’m sure Rouge will be bringing clothing to help us hide our identities, but I will send her a message about it anyway to be sure.” He said, tapping on the screen of his communication device.

Sonic felt the bike moved forward after Shadow finished his message and he held tighter to the other hedgehog. “I assume we want our ride to not be filled with small talk.”

It took a few seconds before Shadow answered with, “How have you been?”

Sonic grinned widely and leaned closer to Shadow so he could hear better over the bike. “Well! Since you asked-”

“I’m regretting this already.”

Sonic laughed and it was so hard for Shadow to not crack a smile himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some chapter names are harder to come up with than others.


	15. Empty Streets to Hide the Jazzy Beats

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Before the chapter y'all should check out the art done for this fic by shadowwithpants! Give their art and writing some love, they're wonderful!  
> https://shadowwithpants.tumblr.com/post/177822102344/where-i-lived-but-he-won-a-little-something-i
> 
> -

Knuckles let go of Rouge’s hand and landed on the Master Emerald Altar, rushing up to the emerald and looking back as Rouge came to his side and caught her breath. “Okay, watch my back while I do the ritual.”

Rouge nodded and turned to the fleet of airships that were heading their way. Explosions went off in the skies as their friends and G.U.N. attempted to slow them down, but they both knew the fleet wouldn’t be held off for long.

Knuckles placed his hands on the emerald and started to talk as fast as he could, his pulse throbbing in his head as he anxiously hoped he sounded out each word correctly and in the correct order. He was thankful that his paranoia over the years had him study the rite repeatedly, but he had no way to test out his own more condensed version he had planned out for an emergency like what they currently had on their hands.

The bat flinched as one of the planes fighting was shot down. She watched with wide eyes as the G.U.N. air fighters blew up and she shot her head towards Knuckles. “Is there an abridged version of this ritual? We don’t have a lot of time.”

“This is the shortened version! If you interrupt me it’ll be even longer!” He yelled and continued where he left off, his mind flickering between the words with their meaning and how they were losing everyone. Sonic. Vanilla. The fighters that came to arms to fight with the resistance, G.U.N. It was happening so fast and he couldn’t process all of it without the risk of losing his focus.

“Knuckles!” Rouge held the echidna steady as the island was hit by a blast shot from an airship.

The echidna peeked over his shoulder to the forests that caught fire from the blast. “Get outta here! You get somewhere safe!” He yelled and looked over his shoulder towards Rouge as she placed one of her hands over his, pressing it against the Master Emerald and holding to him tightly.

“I’m not going anywhere without you. Now put that big mouth of yours to work!”

Knuckles looked at her determined stare and nodded. The Emerald’s glow grew intense as he went on, Rouge’s hand never parting from Knuckles’. The ground shook as the Island was attacked but the echidna continued, ignoring the fear that hammered his heart. When he yelled out the last line a green light rose to the sky from the emerald, opening like an umbrella over the island and spreading through the sky to enclose around it. “We gotta get outta here now before we are locked inside here!”

“So you’ll be joining our fight after all?” Rouge asked as she expanded her wings.

He held her hands and gave them a reassuring squeeze, eyes locked onto hers. “I’m not going to lose anymore of the ones I care about. Not while I can still fight.”

She smiled and held him tightly while she took off, flying as fast as she could towards the opening of the ever closing shield. The two just barely made it out as Angel Island was totally encased by the powers of the Master Emerald. “Will it be okay? There were a few fires.”

“The fires won’t be long lived. The island will bounce back from it just fine. More importantly we gotta get outta here.” Knuckles looked up at Rouge as she panted while overworking her already exhausted wings. He anxiously looked around for anyway he could help and flinched as a laser shot past them, the explosion knocking them off balance.

Rouge cried out as she lost control and they started to fall. She quickly adjusted her aching wings to catch them when Knuckles wrapped his arms around her, holding her wings shut. “What are you doing?!”

“We’re targets up here! We gotta get low then we can glide to shore.” He flinched as another plane caught fire, crashing down from the battle with the airships. When he looked up, he saw the attacks hit the shield around the island, unable to get through. Another pilot lost control and this time crashed into the shield and blew up. Knuckles felt sick as he watched the losing fight above them, knowing each plane that went down was a life lost.

Rouge took him by the chin, making him face her. “You’re right. Now focus on me, sweetie. Okay? Focus on us getting to safety, that is our task right now. You did your job. You did great. Now we need to get away.” She breathlessly tried to comfort him. “Take my hands and together we will get control of our fall.”

Knuckles nodded, letting go and taking hold of just her hands. “Alright. Alright, we can do this.” He heard more of the battle and it took all his willpower to not look up. He stared into Rouge’s eyes as she held to him. “We… We can do this…”

She gave him a smile. “We can and we will.” She looked down to estimate when to expand her wings. “Don’t look away from me, okay?” Rouge could only imagine the horror Knuckles felt seeing battle on this scale literally on top of his home. And she didn’t have time to think about her co-workers at G.U.N. who were being killed so close to her but just out of reach, she didn’t have the luxury of feeling that pain right now. “Still looking at me, handsome? I’m gonna get us into a glide, think you can help?”

“Yeah.”

Rouge spread her wings and with Knuckles’ aid the two floated gently down towards the shore. She caught Knuckles take one last look at his home and her heart broke as he looked away mournfully.

-

Rouge thoughtfully adjusted the coat she wore, smiling to herself when she heard Knuckles’ voice in her earpiece.

“You alright out there? It’s not too cold for you, is it?” His voice was teasing, but she could catch the hint of authentic concern for her well being.

“It’s a nice change of pace from the heat. Let’s just hope it doesn’t snow until after the mission. How about you, big guy? You sure you’re up to being our eyes? Omega can always do it so you can rest.”

Knuckles grumbled. “I got it. The least I can do is provide the same help you gave us during the mission before I got myself hurt.”

“How considerate. But make sure you tap out if it gets to be too much.” She awaited his response and when all she got was silence she frowned to herself. “We still there?”

“Yeah…Sorry. I uh… since I can’t come with you, being able to help from here is all I’ve got. I’m in this until you get back here safely.” Knuckles answer was hesitant and quiet but made her smile nonetheless. “And not in a “I don’t think you can handle yourself” way… I know you can, but…” He trailed off.

“I know… I’ll be back in no time, you softie. So don’t get yourself too worried, you need to take care of yourself too so next time you can come along.” Her heart was warmed by the way the echidna chuckled.

“Fair enough.”

Rouge looked up as Shadow’s bike pulled into their meeting place in a blind spot to the city’s security. “Hello, boys. You know, it’s rude to make a girl wait.”

Shadow slid his goggled up to rest on his forehead. “We had to take a few detours to make sure we weren’t followed.” He looked down at Sonic’s arms still wrapped around him and gave one of them a light tap.

Sonic pulled away with an embarrassed laugh and got off the bike. “So, what’s the plan?”

Rouge motioned to the bag. “First off we gotta gear up, it’s gonna be a cold one tonight. The signal we have of Metal is in the center of the city where Eggman has one of his big casinos. We know it’s where he keeps a Chaos Emerald so while we are there looking for Metal we will also be looking out for that.” She turned her attention to Shadow. “Reminder that it’s contaminated, so no using your powers without your own emerald. And even then, go easy on it.”

Shadow gave her a nod and handed Sonic his outfit. They both got black bodysuits, jackets, and specially made boots. Shadow got himself dressed and left what he currently wore in a compartment in his bike minus his belt. “So how did we come to find where Metal Sonic was to begin with?” He asked.

Rouge crossed her arms with a shrug. “Tails just said she got a signal, I assume she managed to attach something to him during their confrontation at the Power Plant.”

Sonic nervously zipped up his jacket and fit his quills into the hood, eyes focused on Shadow as he took out his gun and loaded it with strange colored bullets. He figured he would change the subject. “Are all the pouches on that belt bullets?”

“A majority of them, yes.” Shadow answered and put the safety on his gun before setting it back into its holster. “Each bullet does something different. Normal bullets are useless against the Doctor’s robots and are more of a danger to others around due to the ricochet. These ones strike the robot and catch onto them, letting out a pulse of electricity that is strong enough to fry their systems.”

Sonic whistled. “Woah, that’s way cool. There a reason you don’t use it often?”

Rouge exchanged a look with her teammate who adjusted the gloves Amy had given him before leaving the island.

“Yes, there are a few… First, there are a limited amount of bullets left. As you can imagine they aren’t easy to come by these days due to the supplier no longer being with us. Secondly, in certain situations they would be reckless to use, such as when we fought that robot on the ocean. Electricity in this specific type of bullet would have fried our ship and made the water even more dangerous… Third, they are deadly, like all guns. With my powers I can control the input of power, usually, so I can take down an enemy without ending their life… Unlike what some may think, I don’t enjoy killing and I avoid it as much as I can.” Shadow explained before facing Rouge. “We’re ready. Where is the best way to enter?”

“Easy, I fly us in.” Rouge gave her earpiece a tap. “You awake there, handsome? I’m gonna need you to check if our usual spot is cleared of patrols.”

“I’m on it.” Knuckles replied.

“So, Knuckles is our tour guide, huh?” Sonic asked with a grin.

“Gotta problem with that?” The echidna gruffly asked.

Sonic laughed. “Not at all. Just don’t over do it, you’re still recovering aren’t ya?”

“Don’t you worry, Rouge already laid down the rules. I’ll switch with Omega if it gets to be too much. But I don’t plan on it, so you’ll likely be stuck with me.”

“Wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Knuckles let them know when they were clear to fly over the walls surrounding the city. Once inside, Rouge lead the way using the alleyways and dodging the patrols that roamed the streets.

When they hid on a fire escape while a patrol robot turned to take a glimpse into the alley, Sonic really gave the buildings and streets a look to make sure they weren’t spotted and noticed something off. When the robot was out of sight and earshot he whispered. “Hey, all the windows are all covered up and there’s no one around anywhere. Last time we were here there were tons of people.”

Shadow stood closer to Sonic so the other hedgehog could hear him. “We were here during the day. The cities have a strict curfew at night, everyone is to be off the streets with no sights of the happenings outside, so the windows are to be covered.”

“How do they keep a casino up and running then?”

Rouge motioned to a single person who had left a building and right away was stopped and searched before getting into a vehicle. “Seeing as the casino brings in a lot of money, Eggman set up a system where adults apply to a pass which allows them rides to and from places that run at night such as the casino. But even with passes, they can’t just walk around freely.”

“Enough chit-chat. There’s an opening now, get going.” Knuckles ordered through the headset.

The group followed Knuckles’ directions until they got to a building beside the road surrounding the brightly colored casino and Sonic squinted against the lights. “Well, you can’t miss the place. That’s for sure.”

“What now, Rouge?” Shadow asked. “It’s heavily patrolled all around the casino and even with our outfits it’ll be hard to sneak in.”

The bat smiled. “You boys leave this part to me. Once I’m inside you teleport yourselves in to my location. I’ll find us a nice inconspicuous area for your entrance to not be so flashy.”

“You’ll be able to get in without backup?” Shadow asked.

“You doubting me after all this time? Who do you think I am?” Rouge gave him a wink. “I’ve been sneaking in since it was built. Don’t you worry, I have my ways.”

The two watched Rouge fly above the spotlights, gracefully keeping out of sight. Sonic side glanced over to Shadow and moved the mic of his headpiece away. “You doing alright so far?”

Shadow nodded, his eyes not leaving Rouge as she entered the casino through an air vent she could fit through. “Yes.” He was quiet a moment before his head turned to the other hedgehog. “Something is bothering me though. You said we are tracking Metal Sonic. How is that? We had no idea his location before the Power Plant. Now we suddenly do?”

Sonic chuckled lightly. “You’re asking me?”

“Yes. I am. You were with Tails at the Power Plant so you surely have the answer. Yet you didn’t give one when I asked before thus leading to me to suspect there is something going on.”

The blue hedgehog frowned and turned his attention to the casino. “Talk to Tails about it.”

“Dodging the question?”

He gave Shadow a weary smile. “Just talk to Tails when this is over. She can give you better details… and she has a few things she wants to discuss with you anyway.”

Shadow stared at his smile before letting out a sigh. “Very well.”

 

Once Rouge was inside the Casino she came out of the air vent into a restroom where she snuck into a stall. She took out the bag she brought with her and took out a red dress and heels, changing into them.

“You almost done?” Knuckles’ voice questioned as she made sure the dress fell over her body neatly.

“Just about.” She put on a pair of sleek glasses and pressed down on one of the hinges. She hid the bag in the bathroom air vent and checked herself over in the mirror. “If you have a visual you can tell me how I look.” She teased and posed.

“I can see you.” The echidna replied sourly.

Rouge put her hands on her hips. “And?”

“And… you look beautiful…” He bashfully muttered. “Can we get to work now? I have the map of the place up and ready.”

She blew a kiss at the mirror with a wink. When a few people walked in she left, deciding it wasn’t clear enough to have the two hedgehogs teleport in just yet.

“Be careful not to draw too much attention to yourself. If those robots scan you it could blow this whole mission up.” Knuckles warned.

Rouge pulled out a cell phone and adjusted her earpiece. “What was that sweetheart? I can’t hear you over all this chatting.” She said, playing iit off that she was talking on her phone.

Knuckles grumbled with annoyance. “You heard me just fine. Okay, as you know the casino is in a circular shape that goes around the center most area which is where hotel rooms are. The hotel part is bound to be less crowded at this hour so you can get Shadow and Sonic in there. But before we do that, we should locate exactly where the emerald is. I’ll be keeping track of where Metal Sonic is, you will go after him after you get the two in there with you. Do not face him by yourself.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t gamble too much tonight. But you have to let a girl have a little fun.”

“I mean it, Rouge. You fighting him alone will be-”

“I know. I’m teasing you. Always so serious.” Rouge hummed thoughtfully as she walked through the crowded halls of the casino, heading from the outer ring of the layout and making her way to the main room. The ringing of the slot machines chimed just a little quieter than the jazzy music that played.

Knuckles groaned. “I hate this place. It’s so loud and bright…”

“Aw, if you’re tired you should get some rest. You don’t have to stay up waiting for me to get back.”

“I’m fine. Okay, keep close to the sides, security is heading your way.”

Rouge lingered along the walls and looked up at one of the many elegant paintings of Eggman that hung throughout the casino. She kept as casual as possible while she listened to the robot as it passed her by.

“You’re in the clear.” Knuckles watched the screens, one was a map of the casino and city that had the locations of the hedgehogs, Rouge, and of course Metal Sonic. One had footage from the security systems that they hacked into. And the last screen had feed from Rouge’s glasses. He glared as Rouge looked over the paintings before turning back to the mainroom as she began to make her way across it. “They certainly don’t let you forget whose in charge around here.”

Rouge came to a stop when a man from a table asked for good luck from the “pretty lady”. She walked over, much to Knuckles’ annoyance, and blew some air on the man’s dice and smiled up at him. “Make sure to wisely spend those winnings.”

The man rolled his die and cheered as he won. “You outta stick around, Missy. We could really make a fortune together. Split with ya, 50/50.”

She chuckled. “As tempting as your offer, I must turn it down. I’m a busy woman after all.”

He gave her little argue and a nod before approaching another person with the same lines of asking for her to humor his old gambler’s superstition. Knuckles was seething with anger while Rouge walked away. “What a creep. You shouldn’t have even humored him.”

“Now, now. Even those types have their purposes.” She entered the hotel area and held up a cardkey, reading the number to the man’s room with a smile. “Ooh, a Master Suit. Seems someone is already loaded.”

Knuckles stared at it dumbfoundedly before sitting back in his chair and letting out a lighthearted laugh. “You sneak. And to think, he promised you half his winnings tonight.” He joked.

Rouge shrugged and peeked around the corner to the main desk, above the large model slot machine was the encased Chaos Emerald shown off to all who entered. Just in sight but out of reach, guards keeping it safe. “Well, as far as my luck goes, I think I’ve already hit the lottery.”

The echidna rolled his eyes. “Don’t get too excited about the emerald just yet, we still gotta get the other two in there.”

“I wasn’t talking about the emerald.” She replied with a tone more tender than her usual.

Knuckles was at a loss as to how to respond, not sure if he understood correctly what she meant and not wanting to look foolish by assuming.

As people walked by Rouge laughed. “And how are our little boys, honey? Did you get them to bed yet?”

Knuckles shook himself out of his dumbfounded stupor and it took him a moment to figure out what she was talking about.. “Shadow and Sonic are ready at your signal, so get to that hotel room now that we know where the Chaos Emerald is.”

Rouge kept her eyes sharply focused as she got up to the elevator, thankful there were only two other people on it with her. She pressed in the number for the floor the room was on and rode the way up.

Knuckles checked the screens for security and Metal Sonic’s location. He seemed to be on the rooftop. “You’re clear so far…” Suddenly Metal Sonic’s icon moved swiftly down several levels through the elevator shafts and Knuckles felt his breath catch in his throat. “Rouge! You gotta get off the elevator!”

Rouge gasped as the elevator shook with a thud on the ceiling. The elevator had stopped and the two trapped inside with Rouge clung to the railing on the walls. The emergency hatch shifted and Rouge jumped back as it was blown open. She knew right away who the cloaked figure was as he jumped down into the elevator with them was and she awaited to see what he would do before acting recklessly.

Metal Sonic, hidden under the hood of Shadow’s stolen cloak, checked what floor they were on and upon seeing it was almost the 4th he turned to the three in the elevator. Before he could get a better look at the bat the man took a drunken swing at the robot. Metal easily caught him by the hand and started to squeeze it, getting a pained shout out of the man.

Rouge kicked Metal off him and pulled a small taser she had strapped to her thigh under her dress. She used it to stun the robot, the shock momentarily messing with his systems, and she grabbed the other two and flew with them out the emergency hatch. “Knuckles, tell me a door’s open above.”

“6th’s floor is open!” Knuckles answered. “Sonic, Shadow, get over there, now!” He watched as Rouge got the two civilians through the doors as they closed and into the hall while telling them to get somewhere safe. “Rouge is on the 6th floor of the hotel in the southern hall.”

“Got it.” Shadow replied and held out his hand to Sonic. “We’re on.”

Sonic took his hand with a smirk. “We’ll be sure to give ‘em a good show.”

Rouge flew down the hall, heart racing as she heard the doors of the elevator being forcefully opened. The chreak of the metal bending a haunting sound as she hid behind a vending machine that was in a small room attached to the hallway.

“He’s heading your way, Sonic and Shadow are on the way so stay hidden.” Knuckles tensely instructed.

Rouge held her breath as she heard the metallic footsteps approach. When they stopped at the entrance of the room she braced herself.

“They’re in.”

Rouge flew from her hiding place and kicked Metal Sonic back into the hall at Knuckles’ signal. Before the robot could recover he was kicked again, Shadow and Sonic both knocking him to the ground. Rouge brushed herself off. “Security is going to be notified soon, we have to make this quick.”

Metal Sonic looked towards Sonic before struggling to get back up. “You again… Why is it you always appear at the worst times?”

“Just to make it harder for you, pal.” Sonic smirked cockily.

Shadow faced down Metal Sonic. “I got this one. You two get the Chaos Emerald.”

Rouge watched Shadow draw his weapon and they heard Knuckles try to argue against any of them taking Metal Sonic on solo. She gave Shadow a nod. “Think you can get the emerald he has?”

“Yes.” Shadow answered. He frowned as Metal Sonic was back on his feet and had turned to face them all. “Go, now!”

Sonic followed Rouge to the stairway, glancing back at Shadow before he took the bat’s hand and ran them down the steps.

Metal Sonic watched the two flee then his eyes fell on Shadow. He stared as the gun was aimed at him and was briefly frozen by an emotion the robot couldn’t recognize, and it scared him. He quickly made for the broken elevator, since it was closer than the stairs and instantly Shadow was on him, delivering a kick that knocked the robot off balance.

“This will go one of two ways. You give me the Chaos Emerald you have, or I tear it away from you.” Shadow threatened.

Metal stared at him, using the wall to stand back up. “Shadow the hedgehog… You’re in the fight again now?”

“I’m back and you and the doctor can’t stop me this time.” He was done running away, he wasn’t going to lose control, he wouldn’t let his friends down again. Never again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So much is going on in my personal life rn so I apologize if the updates are slow.
> 
> As always, thank you so much for the support and comments!


	16. It's Not a Gamble without a Gun

Sonic slowed to a stop as they reached the end of the stairwell, peeking out. Rouge pulled him behind the steps just before guard robots rushed through the doors and went up to check out the commotion Shadow and Metal Sonic were making several floors up. He frowned as he watched while keeping out of sight. “Should we take them out? They might give Shadow more trouble.”

“He is our distraction right now. We get the emerald then go back for him.” Rouge said sternly, hoping Shadow can hold his own long enough for them to pull this off. “Let’s go.” She motioned to the door and lead the way out.

When he saw where the emerald was, Sonic gave Rouge a wink. “Think you can manage to scoop it up if I give you an opening?”

She smirked. “I don’t know what I am like in your world, but around here I’m the best jewel thief to have ever lived. I’ll get it.”

“Cool, cuz it’s about to get real chaotic in here. I’ll leave the stealth up to you while I get loud enough to keep eyes off you.” Sonic offered a thumbs up and ran out, leaping up onto one of the tables and whistling loudly. “Hey! Nice place you got here, but all this standing around’s got me feeling antsy! How about turning that energy level up a few notches?”

Rouge watched as only a few guards came over to try to restrain Sonic, the bat overhearing some who lingered back stating how this guest likely had too much to drink and needed to be removed and sent home. She leaned against the wall and spoke into her communication device. “They’re underestimating you, Sonic.” She smugly informed him.

“It might be time to really showboat.” Knuckles said, checking in on the two on the ground floor. “We’ve kept hidden you for long enough, Sonic. Do what you do best.”

Sonic’s grin stretched widely and pulled off his hood. “Maybe now you’ll be more willing to play.” He leapt over the robot that tried to grab at him, giving it a wink as it faltered in shock.

Just like he planned, all eyes were on the hedgehog. It was like a bomb had gone off, the energy of the room totally changing as soon as Sonic revealed himself. Robots were all given the order to neutralize the largest threat, a high ranking member of the only group who represented even the slightest of threats to Eggman’s Empire. And when their systems registered who exactly it was they were all compelled to lock onto him and attack. People screamed as they scrambled out of the way while the hedgehog jumped around, dodging the robots and taunting to keep them after him. Needless to say, the name that rang out through the casino and fled into the streets of the city was one that shook the very foundation of the mad scientist’s domain.

“Sonic the Hedgehog is alive!”

Rouge flew high and stuck to the shadows of the ceiling, the pandemonium below giving her the perfect opportunity to strike. She reached the tall case that showed off the Chaos Emerald inside. Carefully, she pulled a wire from her phone and plugged it into the machine that spun the emerald. “Alright hopefully the virus will be uploaded fast enough that I don’t get-” She heard the shot even through the loud alarms and uproar of the fight Sonic caused and she felt a sharp sting after a bullet grazed her shoulder. She hissed out in pain and clutched at the wound.

“Sorry, sweetheart. But I can’t let ya just stroll in here and make a mess of my place. You’re gonna ruin all my hard work.”

The bat looked down to the familiar purple weasel and she sneered. “Fang the Sniper, now that’s a face from the past. Where have you been hiding?” she asked, not recalling having seeing him when she originally came into the casino.

“Who said I was hiding?” He asked and gave his gun a twirl on his finger. “Ya know, you aren’t the only one the gift of luck. You were too caught up in what you pickpocketed off the guy to see who he came to next.” He pointed the gun at her. “Seems you’re still out there trying to pretend you’re more than just some thief with those wannabe heroes of yours, huh?” The weasel goaded. “Sneaking in here like you own the place. I’m gonna have to give the big man a talkin’ to about these robots sucking at their job. But I guess that’s why he hired me.”

Rouge frowned and realized her error must have been when she was in a hurry to get attention off her, she had somehow missed catching Fang at the same table as the man who asked her to gamble with him. “Seems you’re still taking any shady job that pays regardless of whose side it gets you on.”

“Oh, this job more than just pays. Turns out, working for the guy who controls the biggest power in the world has quite the benefits. I got more freedom than the everyday bloke and the living is quite cushy. Alls I gotta do is pest control.” As he was about to pull the trigger again he was kicked with enough force to slam him into a wall, causing him to drop his weapon. He groaned and looked up at the blue hedgehog. “Useless robots…”

Sonic looked up at Rouge. “Got your back.”

She gave him a smile. “Done cleaning up after those robots?”

“Yeah, and here I thought this was gonna be a challenge.” Sonic chuckled.

“Rouge, we’re in!” Knuckles exclaimed. “You alright?”

Rouge looked at her bloody hand before opening the case. “I’m fine.”

Sonic kicked the gun away as Fang reached for it. “Ah-ah. Haven’t you ever been told these things are dangerous?”

Fang growled and watched Rouge fly down towards them with emerald in a gloved hand. “There’s gonna be reinforcements soon, don’t think you’ll get away.”

Rouge snickered. “We’ll be out of your hair soon, don’t you worry. Let’s go help Shadow and get out of here.”

There was a crash from above them and they all looked up to see Metal Sonic thrown from a window of the hotels above. Shadow jumped out after him and grabbed him by the ankle, rapidly spinning them before slamming the robot straight down, the impact cracking the sleek flooring.

Rouge flew up and caught Shadow before he hit the ground, gently lowering him to his feet. “You get the emerald from our friend yet?”

Shadow wiped sweat from his face. “Not yet.”

Fang stared at Metal Sonic as the robot stood up and his hood fell off. “Wait, why the heck is he here?”

Metal looked at the group and at the emerald the blue hedgehog took from Rouge and put into their own containment. Glancing around, he saw all the robots Sonic had destroyed and then Fang. “Hand over the emerald.” He demanded, wanting to get out of there as fast as he could.

Shadow ran at Metal Sonic again, the robot blocking a kick. He stared down at the robot, frustrated and confused with the pace their fight had been at since they started. He jumped back as Sonic ran into the robot with all his might, knocking him back several feet.

“Does he even have the Power Plant’s Chaos Emerald on him?” Sonic asked.

Fang squinted his eyes as he listened in. “So he was who took that emerald huh?” He smirked to himself and decided to stay back for a bit and watch where the fight would go.

Rouge thoughtfully tapped on the screen of her phone. “Scans are up now, but I assume so since he came right from the Power Plant unless it’s hidden somewhere else in the city. Keep him still so we can get a proper reading.” She kept an eye on Fang who waved at her and showed little resistance without his weapon, that in itself was suspicious to her.

Shadow took out his gun again. “I can disable him if I can get a shot.”

Before Sonic could move, Metal Sonic fired out a beam at the two, the blue hedgehog shoving Shadow and himself out of the way of the attack. Rouge flew up to dodge as Metal moved to try to cover more ground with his attack.

Areas of the building cracked and part of the ceiling fell, Fang saw an opening and cursed as he took it.

Sonic looked down at Shadow. “You alright?”

Shadow nodded and sat upright, looking around for his weapon. His shock didn’t have time to express itself on his face before his own gun was fired at him, the weasel not hesitating to pull the trigger as soon as he got his hands on the firearm.

Sonic had grabbed Shadow’s arm to pull him away when the specialized bullet struck Metal Sonic, who had flown in the line of fire. “Metal?!”

Shadow stared up at the robot that faced him as Metal’s body violently shook while the bullet’s electrical jolts paralyzed him and started to fry his systems. His eyes flashed several colors before they lost all light and Metal collapsed to his knees.

“Tch, what’s with these junk robots being more trouble than help?” Fang hissed.

“The emerald is inside Metal’s torso!” Rouge called out before turning to fly down at Fang, being shot at by the bullets and forced to stay back.

Shadow reached up to try to forcibly open Metal Sonic when he was grabbed by the neck by the robot. He winced as the grip tightened and lifted him off the ground, he looked at the robot as his eyes lit back up and flickered as sparks ran through the wiring of the robot’s body.

Sonic grabbed Metal Sonic. “Let him go!” He staggered when he was pistol-whipped by the weasel, holding his face. “Ah, geez. That’s broken.” He said as he felt the blood seep through his gloves from his nose.

Fang swiped the container the hedgehog held and made a beeline for the exit as robots started to charge in and opened fire on the three. “I’m outta here, this place ain’t worth getting myself killed. See ya, suckers!”

Sonic recovered and dodged the shots taken at him, rushing in to take the robots out before they could hit his friends.

Shadow grabbed Metal Sonic’s wrist and his hand started to glow, the charging Chaos Spear barely burning at the surface of the robot’s metal body.

“Shad… ad…s... Shadow…” Metal’s voice was barely audible and sputtered with static.

The dark furred hedgehog stared as the colors of Metal Sonic’s eyes flashed as his hold on Shadow’s neck loosened. Metal Sonic was kicked in the head and knocked to the ground when Rouge flew in.

“You alright?” She asked her friend.

Shadow nodded and shot out several Chaos Spears, impaling a few of the attack robots. “Get the emerald, we’ll keep you covered!”

Rouge nodded and landed on her feet, approaching Metal Sonic cautiously. She watched as he tried to move but the tremors caused his joints to lock while his circuits sparked. “Get the emerald he says. How am I supposed to do that?” She grunted as she lifted her leg, slamming the heel down on the robot as hard as she could, the previous damage he had inflicted to his body causing the metal to weaken and buckle under her kick. She smiled triumphantly and opened the chest cavity that had dented enough to get her fingers inside.

“Careful not to be shocked.” Knuckles warned. “And Fang is getting away, hurry up and get him before he gets away with that Chaos Emerald!”

“Yeah, yeah!” She groaned as she pulled the robot open with all her might. She frowned when she heard Metal Sonic trying to speak again, seeming to be glitching and still responding to Shadow.

“You… Shad...ow… I… I… Shad….s…ha. What… Why… can’t I…”

She almost felt sorry for the robot as it malfunctioned, but it was brief and didn’t cause her to even blink twice as she got the chest open and took out the emerald from inside. “I got it, boys! Let’s get out of here.”

Sonic blew away several robots and took Rouge by the hand. “Ready?”

She nodded and the two took off towards the exit, Shadow paused before following and glanced back at Metal Sonic before he ran after them.

 

“Yeah, they said something like that.” Fang said, holding his phone to his ear as he spoke. “I didn’t stick around to confirm it, figured I wouldn’t get another chance to get outta there in one piece. But I do have something for ya. You can have it if we can keep our deal. I did my part, your robots are who messed it up. I deserve my reward for sticking my neck out at all against those three! And did I stress the whole Sonic being alive still thing, cuz that’s a thing I would’ve liked to know!” He took a peek in his rearview and his eyes widened. “Think on it and get back to me, I gotta book it.” He ended the call and looked up from his phone to the road and saw Sonic running backwards in front of him.

“You sure left the party early.” Sonic smirked. “Wasn’t enough fun for you?”

Fang swerved and turned down another street, speeding up. When Sonic ran at his side he glared. “What happened to you being dead, huh? Was that just a fake rumor so you could take a vacation all this time?”

“It’s complicated.” Sonic shrugged. “More importantly you outta keep your eyes on where you’re going.”

Fang turned back to the road and gasped as Shadow leapt over the handles of the airbike and kicked the weasel off his vehicle. He was caught by Rouge before hitting the pavement and Shadow got control of the bike while Sonic took the emerald from the compartment. Fang growled and struggled in Rouge’s arms. “Let me go! You realize what you’ve done?! That is my only bargaining chip!”

Sonic took the gun from the weasel’s belt too and tossed it to Shadow. “You know, it sounds like you need a new job. You might like the money but you’re boss stinks.”

Fang growled. “This isn’t about the job or money.”

Sonic stood at Rouge’s side and looked at the purple weasel with surprise, seeing what looked to be honest distress on his face. “Worried about how he’ll punish you if he finds you?”

“I ain’t talking. What’re you gonna do with me now?”

Shadow pushed the bike in an alleyway, hidden incase a patrol robot rounded the corner. “He could have intel on where the other Chaos Emeralds are. It might be worth taking him prisoner.”

“Heh, ain’t kidnapping above you goodie goodies?”

“Maybe for ol’ blue here. But we’re Team Dark.” Rouge chuckled and gave Shadow a smile before turning to the other hedgehog. “Got a problem with that, dear?” She asked Sonic.

The blue hedgehog shrugged. “I can’t argue with getting information.”

Rouge smiled and tapped her earpiece. “How about you, big guy. Got any complaints?”

“He shot you.” Knuckles replied bluntly. “Teleport here, I want a word with him.”

Rouge smiled and gave Shadow a nod. “We’ll get our things then head over, Knuckles.” She looked down at Fang. “We have a lot of catching up to do and a friend who is a big fan of treasure hunters such as yourself.”

Fang groaned, giving up on resisting as he looked between the two hedgehogs. He couldn’t see a way out of this without being run down or worse, shot at. He gasped when Sonic reached into his coat pocket and took out his cellphone.

“Don’t need this tracking us.” Sonic winked and tossed it.

“Darn brat…”

 

“He tied up tight enough?” Knuckles asked, staring at the weasel who was binded to a chair in the training room of the Mystic Ruins base.

Omega stood next to the chair, one arm in attack mode mostly to remind Fang of the situation he was in.

“Yeah, he’s not going anywhere.” Rouge reassured, after checking the ropes. “So, Mr. Sniper, you wanna clarify what you were telling us earlier? About a bargaining chip and this job you have with Eggman.”

Fang looked away from the bat. “I already said, I ain’t talking.”

“Well, that’s a shame. If you won’t talk to me then you’ll have to talk to one of the boys then, and I don’t think they are in the mood to politely chat.”

The weasel looked around at the others in the room, Omega who already had Fang locked onto, Knuckles who cracked his namesake, Shadow who stood at the door with a hand over his belt where his gun sat, and Sonic who gave Fang a smug smile.

“Alright, fine. But ya gotta promise me protection. No shooting me in the back or feeding me to Eggman when we’re done here.”

Rouge looked back to the rest of the group and smiled. “I think that’s doable. But only if you give us what we need.”

“Look, I’ll give what I can. I don’t know all the ins and outs, I was just hired to keep watch over the casino and its Chaos Emerald.”

Rouge pulled up another chair and sat down, crossing her legs. “Alright. We will start there. Tell us about the job and what you got out of it.”

Fang sighed. “I was to keep an eye out and make sure everything’s in order. The casino brings in cash that helps upkeep the city ya know. But more importantly the Chaos Emerald. We have this deal, right? You win the big jackpot, and I mean the huge one, and you can win the emerald. It was a sham as I’m sure you guessed. Worked real well for being obviously a trap.”

He shrugged his shoulders as best as he could, looking at Rouge who currently was the less threatening of the group. “Sure, we got a few guys like you and myself, batgirl. Low-lives who wanna get the big money, resistance would likely pay a lot for a Chaos Emerald, right? But the best ones were the two-bit heroes who came in looking to get their hands on it to shut us down and stick it to the man. Use the power of the Chaos Emerald to fight back. Little did they know that anyone who either won fair and square or got captured were taken downstairs to be transported off to the factory where they were turned into robots to work for the very guy they hated. And trust me, they all got captured.”

The room tension amplified at this information Fang gave them.

“Where were they taken?” Knuckles spoke up through gritted teeth.

“What, didn’t ya understand me? I just said the factory.”

“No. After you monsters turned them into robots? Where were they taken then?”

Fang anxiously looked from Knuckles to Rouge and back at the echidna. “Buddy, I don’t know that! I assume they were sent somewhere to work. Maybe some are still at the big factory.”

Knuckles growled lowly but kept himself rooted where he stood. “Why should we trust anything this guys says? He willfully let others get captured and roboticized. Heck, he even helped!”

“Woah, hey! Hold up a sec, red!” Fang scooted back a bit when Knuckles took a threatening step closer.

Sonic placed a hand on Knuckles’ shoulder. “Keep talking.” He said coldly towards the weasel, understanding Knuckles’ feelings but not wanting this chance to learn more to go to waste.

Rouge didn’t break eye contact with the weasel, trusting Knuckles to keep calm or to excuse himself if it got to be too much to hear. “Now tell us what you got out of the job. You mentioned briefly it came with benefits and freedom when we met at the casino.”

“Immunity was part of the perks that came with the job. I could come and go as I please and no crummy robot would lay a hand on me so long as I did my job. The pay was good and the housing was real nice. But I had to work my way up for all that, that wasn’t the first day in the door pay. It took me a real long time to gain Eggman’s trust, that was the payment I really worked for.”

Fang let out a breath and steadied himself, eyes closing mournfully. “I only know about what happened to those who went after the emerald cuz it happened to me and my team. Bean, Bark, and I had our eyes set on swiping the emerald and selling it. Gotta bring in the dough somehow. But we were caught and taken below. We fought as best we could, but in the end one by one we got taken in for the process. I was the last one. But I was able to talk my way into a job, work for Eggman and I get to keep being a living, breathing being.”

“This bargaining chip, the Chaos Emerald I assume, was that the exchange for you being shown mercy?” Rouge asked.

Fang let out a bitter laugh. “That bargaining chip was gonna be what got me my boys back. We had a deal after I gained his trust, keep the emerald safe and he will give them back their wills and let them join me again.” He lowered his head, the brim of his had hiding frustrated tears. “Those two boneheads… The huge pains in my butt. Bark was stubborn as heck and way too soft hearted for this job. I dunno why he stuck around but he did. Bean… was just a weirdo. I don’t get the guy and I don’t think I ever will. But we’ve been working together for so long and…” He trailed off briefly before glaring up at the group. “This was all I had going for any hope of saving them. Sure, they’d be robots but they’d still be them. But ya blew it for us.”

Everyone was in silence while the weasel grieved, all having felt loss at the hands of the mad doctor.

“Maybe not.”

Eyes turned towards a far calmer Knuckles.

“Eggman doesn’t know you were captured yet. If you tell him you shook us off your tail and that you’ll take the emerald to the factory you can get us in so we can storm the place.” Knuckles started to explain.

Sonic smirked. “Yeah, while there we can get the info on how to get robots back their wills and save everyone who is trapped there, Bark and Bean included.”

Fang stared up at them with wide eyes. “You want me to be bait? Are you nuts?! That place is crawling with robots. It’s a whole factory’s full of ‘em! As soon as you step foot in the place they’re all gonna turn and attack and I’m gonna be the first target!”

“You want to save your friends, right?” Sonic said, turning from Knuckles to the weasel. “Besides, you kinda owe us after getting our friends captured to begin with.”

“I don’t owe you squat.” Fang argued. “How do you even know we can pull this off? We storm the place and all get killed or captured what then? You’re willing to gamble all those lives of the resistance on this one plan?”

“It’s a risk we gotta take.” Knuckles frowned. “This could be the turning point of the whole war. If we take down the factory we disable a lot of Eggman’s source of power, we gain more allies, and I’m willing to bet we get another Chaos Emerald.”

“We will need a more concrete plan, but I agree with Knuckles.” Shadow chimed in. “If we can pull this off it will be a fatal blow that will change everything.”

Fang looked at the group as they all agreed with the plan, the weasel dumbfounded. “You’re all crazy. What is so different now that makes you think you can pull this off when you haven’t been able to all these years?”

“They have help now.” Sonic said, standing with hands on his hips. “But we’re gonna need you to be able to have a chance too. This is the best bet on saving your friends. What do you have to lose?”

“My life for starters…” Fang grumbled and silently weighed his options. “... Come up with a plan and maybe I’ll think about it… And it’s gotta be a good one or my answer is gonna stay no.”

“I’ll give Tails and Vector a call.” Rouge said as she stood up and gave Fang a smile. “Thank you for telling us all you have.”

“Didn’t have much choice, now did I?” The weasel rolled his eyes with a groan. “And the Chaotix is gonna be involved? Ya better make it real good then if I gotta put up with those goons.”

Once out in the hall, Knuckles took Rouge by the hand. “We should treat your wound first…”

“I’m alright. It’s just a scratch.” She brushed her fingers over the cut on her shoulder from Fang’s attack.

“If you won’t do it then I will for you.”

Rouge gave Knuckles a coy smile. “My, what a gentleman. Taking care of this low life treasure hunter’s wounds.”

Knuckles scowled. “Don’t listen to him. You’re nothing like that.”

She smiled. “Oh, I don’t actually take it to heart. I know who I am and why I do what I do. My past, yes perhaps I was no more than just a thief out for herself. It was how I survived until G.U.N. gave me a job… and until I met you all.” She turned to stare towards the doorway that lead to the training room. “I think he found that too… That something that makes our kind care less about our own well being and more about the ones we want to keep in our lives… I think he’ll come around and help us.”

“There will always be the chance he will turn on us…” Knuckled pointed out.

Rouge crossed her arms. “He knows what will happen if he does that. And do you really think Eggman would give him back his team if he did what he was told? I think he is aware of that being a lie and has just been surviving the only way he could find. That hope he had was false and he knows it. He’ll do it. We are his only hope at getting out of this mess with his team alive.”

Knuckles nodded his head and followed her into the living quarters, fetching a first aid kit. “I should see if Sonic and Shadow need any fixing up too when we are done.”

Rouge sat down on the edge of a bed and awaited him to join her. “Sonic got a pretty solid hit to the face. I didn’t catch any injuries that Shadow sustained that would need patching up.”

Knuckles started to clean the wound, licking his lips as he focused on being as gentle as he could. “Working with him again go well?”

She smiled. “It felt like old times. A little rusty, but it was nice.”

“Good.” He applied some medicine and gauze before sitting back with a satisfied smile. “It’s nice to see you smiling like that again.”

Rouge’s face grew warm as she was caught off guard by his comment and she chuckled. “You charmer.” She gave the tip of his nose a tap with her finger. “Now let’s give Tails and Vector a call. It’s nice to hear you talking strategy.”

Knuckles blushed and closed the first aid kit while grumbling about her being embarrassing while she laughed.

Sonic watched as Shadow gave Omega a nod, signaling the robot to lower his weapons. He rubbed at his nose and winced at the touch. “Ack, right. Forgot about that. You gotta real good hit in, Fang.”

Fang scoffed. “You were more focused on helping your guy over there to notice me. That’s gonna get ya killed. Again. Speaking of, whatcha doing alive anyways?”

“Well, I’m not the same Sonic you’re thinking of. I’m from another world.”

The weasel squinted his eyes, looking Sonic up and down. “Huh. Another world. So here you are fixing the mess this world is in.”

Sonic shrugged his shoulders. “It’s what I do. I’m not gonna turn my back on people who need help.”

“Guess you and the guy from here ain’t too different. Watch out, I hear that’s what did him in.”

Shadow tensed and walked over to Fang, the weasel flinching back and looking up at him with wide eyes. “Enough of that. I have a question for you now…”

Fang’s heart raced staring up at Shadow’s glare. “Yeah, sure. Just back off a bit, will ya?”

Shadow sat down in the seat Rouge was in before. “What do you know about Metal Sonic?”

“That’s your question?”

Sonic looked over at Omega then down at Shadow. “You think he’ll know what’s up with that guy?”

Fang shook his head. “I don’t know anything about him. Just that he works for Eggman so him having the Chaos Emerald from the Power Plant is really weird. And coming at you for the casino emerald only makes it more suspicious.”

“Well, we beat him. He’ll be out of the picture for a while after that fight.” Sonic pointed out and frowned when he saw Shadow clench his one hand over the other. “Shadow? What’s up?”

“During our fight something was off. I was rusty and had plenty of openings yet a majority of his attacks were to repel me and escape. I was hardly injured in that whole mission. He went easy on me… Then there was the bullet he took for me.”

“Eggman’s been real paranoid about traitors within his ranks.” Fang said. “After seeing what I saw in that fight I gotta wonder if he’s playing both sides. Wouldn’t be the first time a robot turned against him.” He said, glancing up at Omega.

“You have a suspicion.” the robot said rather than asked, looking down at Shadow.

The hedgehog frowned to himself. “I don’t know…”

“Metal Sonic rebelling would make sense as to why he wants the emeralds. His whole fleeing from battle rather than finishing it… He did that at the Power Plant too.” Sonic said, walking over and standing next to Shadow.

Shadow pensively closed his eyes. “... We will have to be careful the next time we run into him… Something isn’t right.” He suddenly stood up and turned towards Sonic. “Hold still.”

Sonic was bewildered until Shadow placed his fingers on his nose. Sonic flinched and grunted when Shadow held him by the jaw.

“Hold still.”

“Heh, yes sir.”

“How is breathing through it?”

Sonic gave a sniff and smiled. “Fine.”

“Good. Take a breath in.”

“Okay.” As Sonic breathed in, Shadow adjusted his nose to make sure it was aligned right. “Ow! Could’ve warned me.” Sonic winced.

“The break isn’t bad, but put ice on it and be careful not to get hit in the face again.”

“Alright, alright.” Sonic chortled and raise a brow. “You gonna lemme go?”

Shadow released Sonic’s face and quickly made his way for the door. “I’ll get the ice.”

“Y-yeah.” Sonic watched the hedgehog leave before looking back towards Omega and Fang, both staring at him. “What?”

“Nothing.” Both replied.

-

The first thing Metal Sonic took in that actually registered was the bland white tiles of the repair room walls. He tried to sit upright but was unable to move from the position he laid in.

“Metal, try not to squirm, we still gotta replace some of the wiring inside you.”

He looked up and saw the two mechanics above him, one working in his open chest and the other by his head with straps over his body keeping him in place.

“I finally got the internal system stable again, so your mind should be a bit clearer.”

They both jumped when one of their screens flashed with an incoming call. “Oh, no. That has to be the doctor. Answer it!” When the call was accepted, Eggman appeared on the screen, scowling down on the robots. “Dr. Eggman! We managed to get Metal Sonic running again. We just need to work out a few kinks to make sure he won’t short circuit aga-”

“That is as far as I want you to fix him.”

“What? But doctor…”

“Tell me, Metal. What were you doing at the casino?” Eggman asked sternly.

Metal Sonic stared up at the screen. “I was fighting Sonic and his fellow resistance members who were after the Chaos Emerald.”

“While that might be true, it isn’t the full story is it? Got word from a weasel that you were who took the Chaos Emerald from my Power Plant. And while facing Sonic and his friends you demanded the casino emerald too. Don’t try to lie, I got proof to back it up from the surveillance of the casino.”

Metal Sonic’s mind buzzed with excuses he could use for what he had been caught doing, any way he could ease the doctor’s rage, but he came up with nothing. Just static.

“Take him down to get his will removed correctly this time.” Eggman ordered.

The mechanics looked at eachother. “Wait, perhaps there is a reason for what he did.”

“Do you want to join him?!”

“No sir!” The two moved to unlock the wheels of the table Metal laid on and stared down at Metal Sonic. The one suddenly reached over and slammed on the disconnect button, ending communication with Eggman, while the other grabbed a weapon and used it to shoot out the surveillance cameras in the room.

“What are you doing?” Metal Sonic asked while looking up at the two while one went over to the computers and the other barricaded the door. “You’ll get your wills taken too!”

“It’s about time we stop cowering behind you…” The one at the computers said while turning on the microphone and tapping it, getting feedback out in the halls. “The time is now!” The robot called out throughout the factory. “We make our stand and fight for our free will! We show we will not be shut down and silenced into complacency! For the rebellion, attack!”

The roar outside was muffled by the walls of the room, but clearly fighting broke out at the robot’s signal. The two mechanics rushed back to Metal Sonic. “We can get you back up and running for the most part in about ten minutes. We just have to hold on that long.”

Metal looked between the two. “You should flee. Save yourselves.”

“We won’t leave you.”

“Yeah. After all, you were who gave us the hope and inspiration to fight back!”

Metal Sonic heard the fighting grow closer. “You would sacrifice yourselves to save me… How will we fight all the loyal robots?”

“We sent out a distress call we created for this moment, we can only hope we are heard and are deemed worthy of help.”

“Even if we fight alone, we still fight. You taught us that. Sonic taught us that.”

Above them and down the halls, all the robots they had on their side fought even against robots far stronger than they were. The doors to the repair room shook against a heavy force that threw its weight against the barricade.

“Unstrap me.” Metal Sonic urged. He sat up when the two robots undid his straps and he readied himself to fight. “Now hurry, we don’t have much longer.”

The two mechanics quickly got back to work on fixing up Metal as best as they could, both chattering directions towards each other while Metal Sonic focused on the door.

“We do not fight alone. We fight together.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There hasn't been much Fang in the Sonic media I have seen so I went by what I did see and read up on and did my own play on what he would be like in this world. Hope he came out alright!


End file.
